First Solar sees huge opportunity in power-deficit South

First Solar, one of the largest integrated solar photovoltaic solutions providers globally, sees India amongst the fastest growing markets for solar PV installations and expects to sustain a market share of over 20-25 per cent. The company has been associated with more than 500 MW of solar PV units set up in the country supplying modules and expect to continue this growth momentum.

The US-based solar solutions company with manufacturing facilities in the US and Malaysia, sees power deficit States in South India opening up new opportunities to work with.

Sujoy Ghosh, Country-Head, First Solar Power India, told BusinessLine, “With the Central and State Governments providing fresh impetus to the renewable energy segment, particularly solar PV installations, the pace of implementation of solar units is poised to accelerate. The Southern States of AP, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in particular will see a lot of action.” Excerpts from the interaction.

How do you see the opportunity unfolding for First Solar as India seeks to accelerate the solar PV project implementation?

The company has a pipeline of over 3500 MW globally and is in the process of setting up two of the largest single location plants of about 550 MW each in the US. We have also set up the largest single location 290 MW unit in the US.

We are keen to take part in the opportunities unfolding in India be it Ultra Mega Solar Power projects, solar power parks and opportunities offered under the National Solar Mission and initiatives by various State Governments. We are open and keen to work with some of the large corporations such as NTPC.

You have lately taken up projects on your own in India and have recently won bids in Andhra Pradesh. What is the progress?

We had won a 45 MW contract from the unified State of Andhra Pradesh. The project as been planned in Mahaboobnagar district of Telangana. We are in the process of finalising and hope to complete it by next year.

First Solar has also bagged a 80 MW contract in two blocks of 40 MW each from the Andhra Pradesh Government recently, offering a low tariff of ₹5.25 and ₹5.35 per unit respectively, with an escalation clause of three per cent. This works out to a levellised tariff of ₹6.30 per unit. After land allocation and signing up of power purchase agreements and financial closure, the projects would be executed over 12 to 18 months.

There is growing interest in setting up of large projects in India ranging from 1,000 MW to 4,000 MW. Given the backdrop of much smaller installations so far in the country, do you think this is feasible?

We have seen installations of up to 130 mw at single location by Welspun. I believe it is possible to build large plants. We have done it in the US and it could be implemented in India. The best thing about solar installations is that they are modular. So one can build large plants even by offering smaller units to different EPC players. With the Government committed to increasing the share of solar energy in the overall energy basket in the country, the pace of implementation is likely to accelerate.

Given the ‘Make in India’ call, do you see yourself setting up a plant in India?

The Government has recently removed restrictions on imports while also coming up with a call to Make in India. The question is when to consider setting up a unit rather than if we would consider setting up a unit.

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