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Our Bureau

Kolkata, Feb. 6

Jupiter Solar Power Ltd, a 100 per cent subsidiary of IT hardware and consumer electronics distributor Jupiter International Ltd, is setting up photovoltaic solar cell manufacturing facilities in Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal at an aggregate investment of Rs 1,000 crore.

The company has entered into a technical collaboration agreement with Centrotherm GmbH of Germany, according to Mr Alok Garodia, Managing Director of Jupiter International Ltd.

Addressing a news conference here, Mr Garodia said the plant in Himachal Pradesh would be set up at Baddi at an investment of Rs 150 crore. The Baddi plant would be equipped to manufacture 84 lakh photovoltaic cells per annum. Together, these cells have the capability to manufacture 30 MW of electricity. The Baddi plant is expected to commence “pilot production” from November 2008.

Mr Garodia said the photovoltaic cell project in West Bengal would be located in an IT SEZ “in or around Kolkata”.

It would be implemented in two phases. The first phase would entail a 60 MW cell capacity and a 40 MW module capacity when it goes on stream in September 2009. The next phase would see the addition of 120 MW cell capacity and of photovoltaic modules capacity of 80 MW by September 2010.

According to Mr Garodia, solar power was gradually gaining ground the world over as an alternative source of energy.

While the initial costs of solar energy projects are high, the recurring costs are low. “The costs of photovoltaic solar cell-based energy projects are going down on account of adoption of better technology and increasingly yields. This is what is driving the business,” he said.

Seventy-five per cent of the photovoltaic solar cells produced by the company would be exported, with the balance being sold in the domestic market, Mr Garodia said.

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