The Hindu Business Line : Moser Baer bags $500-m contracts for solar modules

New Delhi, Oct. 1 Moser Baer India Ltd announced today it has secured orders worth $500 million to supply solar modules to two European solar system integrators.

The ‘definitive agreements’ inked with Germany-headquartered Ralos Vertriebs and Colexon Energy entail supply of Amorphous Silicon ‘Gen 8.5’ thin film panels by Moser Baer’s photovoltaic subsidiary, PV Technologies India Ltd, over the next four years.

“One of the key performance parameters for Moser Baer in clinching the deals is the usage of specialised technology – Gen 8.5 – that allows thin film deposition on large substrates.

“This technology is the basis for our 5.72 square metre panels, four times the size of conventional thin film panels. In addition, we are creating capacity for ‘tandem junction’ thin film modules that have higher efficiencies of 8.5-9 per cent compared to the standard 6.5 per cent efficiency. Our ability to build larger panels with higher efficiencies has enabled us to drive down costs for customers,” explained Mr Yogesh Mathur, Group Chief Financial Officer of Moser Baer.

Capacity ramp-up

The company is currently in the process of ramping-up its capacity, to execute orders as large as this one. “In ‘single junction’ thin film, we currently have 40 MW capacity in Greater Noida, expandable to 50-55 MW. We are also proposing to add another 65 MW in ‘tandem junction’ in Greater Noida – this would take our overall capacity to 120 MW next year. Thereafter, we will be adding 500 MW in Chennai,” Mr Mathur said.

Turnover contribution

The photovoltaic (PV) business contributed nearly 10 per cent to Moser Baer’s turnover during the year ended March 2008, but the company now expects the proportion of revenue from this business to go up significantly in coming years.

“The PV business achieved revenue of $43 million for FY 2008, against Moser Baer’s overall revenue of over $400 million. Our expectation is that the PV contribution will rise to 20-30 per cent by end of this year,” he said.

The company, however, has not provided a break-up for the annualised revenue realisations flowing from the latest orders.

Top revenues

When contacted, Mr Ravi Khanna, CEO of the Moser Baer, said he expects revenue worth $150-200 million from photovoltaic business for the year ended March 2009.

“Europe is quite bullish on the thin film technology. Globally, thin film installed capacity has moved from 300 MW to 2,000 MW in a span of two years, and is further expected to corner 20 per cent of the overall PV market by 2009.”

The order pipeline comes on the heels of the wholly-owned photovoltaic subsidiary raising over $93.5 million from a clutch of global investors including Nomura, CDC Group, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, IDFC PE and IDFC.

In all, the wholly owned photovoltaic subsidiary has raised well over $193.5 million of private equity funding. Moser Baer had diluted 6.5 per cent stake in the PV business for raising these funds, to be utilised for expansion of its solar PV capacity both in crystalline silicon and thin film solar verticals, largely at the Greater Noida.

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