Independent solar power producer Azure Power prefers domestic equipment as against cheaper Chinese products for quicker implementation of its products.

“We actually prefer domestic sourcing of equipment as it cuts down on logistics, on shipping costs and on project delivery times which is important for our growth,” Inderpreet Wadhwa, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Azure Power, told BusinessLine .

“In our recent 100 MW project commissioned at Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 60 per cent of the equipment is local. We were only required to get cells and modules domestically but we ended up sourcing local equipment for almost everything because it made economic sense to us,” Wadhwa added.

However, despite being bullish on domestic equipment, Wadhwa said that there is a domestic supply constraint for large scale projects.

Azure Power has 142 MW of capacity operational under the National Solar Mission. Apart from working in the solar mission projects and projects awarded by state governments under their own solar power policy, the company has also started working with captive rooftop projects for commercial enterprises.

“We are entering into long-term power purchase agreements with shopping malls and office spaces. This doesn’t require Government intervention because here the delivered price of solar can compete with the alternative,” said Wadhwa.

“We are also looking at micro-grid opportunities in rural areas but they are at very early stages of feasibility,” he added.

While he did not disclose the company’s target generation capacity by the end of the 2015-16 fiscal as some projects are still being sought, Wadhwa said the generation capacity of the company has doubled year-on-year since 2007, which he expects to continue.

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