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					</table><p>As solar technology evolves to keep up with the increasing adoption to help lower manufacturing costs and increase the efficiency of solar modules, Indian solar module manufacturers have been leaning towards the latest TOPCon (Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact) module technology over its other mainstream rival – HJT (Heterojunction).</p>
<p>In the Indian solar market, where the p-type mono PERC is well established, manufacturers are looking at the next big technology to replace it to achieve higher efficiency rates.</p>
<p>TOPCon and HJT are both N-type technologies and have minimal efficiency differences at the manufacturing level. HJT, however, is said to perform better in terms of degradation rate and temperature coefficient.</p>
<p>According to  Balachander Krishnan, Chief Operating Officer at Indosol Solar, a special purpose vehicle of <a href="https://ssel.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shirdi Sai Electricals</a>, the only advantage that HJT can claim is the temperature coefficient, which is -0.25%/°C. TOPCon is -0.30%/°C, due to which HJT technology gives higher power output, especially in hotter countries.</p>
<p>&#8220;TOPCon is veering towards Bi-poly or double poly and further towards back contact, and HJT will eventually move towards back contact if it&#8217;s successful.&#8221;</p>
<p>Vasanthi Sreeram, Chief Technical Officer and Director at <a href="https://www.webelsolar.com/index.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Websol Energy System</a> claims that even if HJT has higher efficiency than TOPCon, the efficiency levels in TOPCon can be enhanced by adding back contact and other structures.</p>
<p><strong>Cost &amp; Availability</strong></p>
<p>One of the major factors giving TOPCon the edge over HJT technology is its easy availability and cheaper installation and production costs.</p>
<p>The CAPEX required for HJT production is almost three times higher, and OPEX is 2.5 times higher compared to ToPCoN technology. The CAPEX for the HJT production line is about $70 million per GW, whereas for TOPCON, it is $40 million per GW.</p>
<p>Sreeram said, &#8220;The major factor distinguishing TOPCon and HJT is the availability factor. The HJT modules tend to have ~50% higher CAPEX and ~30% higher OPEX as compared to TOPCon. The cost factor impacts the demand and, consequently, the availability of the TOPCon modules. Substantial research goes into TOPCon technology, making it more readily available. Whereas, the companies investing in HJT technology are the ones who wish to cater to the niche market and stand out from the crowd.&#8221;</p>
<p>The widely installed mono PERC production lines can be transformed into TOPCon lines with ease, which otherwise would require high capital infusion.</p>
<p>Due to its complexity, HJT manufacturing equipment is difficult to procure at scale, limiting the options to very few globally. Since TOPCon manufacturing equipment is more readily available in the market than HJT, the demand is relatively higher.</p>
<p>According to Krishnan, even though HJT claims to have a lesser number of steps, when it comes to the cost, TOPCoN is a clear winner, both in terms of CAPEX and OPEX.</p>
<p>He said, &#8220;The succession from PERC to TOPCon was relatively easy by adding a few pieces of equipment. China alone has 700 GW of manufacturing, while HJT still has not crossed 40 GW. Considering the overall cost, people are still not keen towards moving into mass manufacturing.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Unless HJT CAPEX and OPEX, especially the overall silver laydown and replacement of Indium Tin Oxide with Aluminium doped Zinc Oxide, come down, it&#8217;s going to be difficult. As in the past, solar manufacturing is always dictated and driven by cost. Apart from this, the BOM (bill of materials) required for HJT is extremely different from the traditional technologies, so the supply chain has not matured, and competitive cost advantages are not likely to happen anytime soon,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>In India, where cost is a significant factor, consumers look at the cost saved per unit of energy when installing newer technology. The decision ultimately comes down to the per-watt price.</p>
<p>Avinash Hiranandani, Global CEO and Managing Director at <a href="https://www.renewsysworld.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RenewSys</a> said, &#8220;As far as technologies go, mono-PERC and TOPCon will exist parallelly for a while, as everything depends on the price and per watt price of these products. Consumers prefer the one that is cheaper and has a wider price gap. One gives 545W power and the other 580W. If the price gap in the sale is too much, people would then prefer per watt price.&#8221;</p>
<p>At an ingot/wafer level, TOPCon and HJT technologies cost the same at ~$0.115/Wp, whereas at the cell level, HJT costs $0.079/Wp, compared to $0.042/Wp for TOPCon.</p>
<p>Cost and availability factors continue to be the primary reasons for most manufacturers in India to choose TOPCon technology.</p>
<p><strong>Technology Outlook</strong></p>
<p>While both technologies continue to scale and reach higher efficiencies, Indian solar module manufacturers are leaning towards TOPCon for now.</p>
<p>However, manufacturers continue to remain cautious when choosing newer technologies.</p>
<p>Hiranandani said, &#8220;The P-type technology, from which PERC is derived, has been stable, and everyone in the market has used it for the last couple of years. TOPCon N-type is a newer technology, and one has to be cautious while using any new technology.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mercom had <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/end-of-polycrystalline-solar-modules" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on how the Indian government effectively eliminated polycrystalline modules, whose efficiencies have peaked at 17-18% from being listed in the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers. The step was to impose the use of newer technologies such as mono PERC and others in the Indian solar landscape.</p>
<p>Many have even raised questions about how long TOPCon would survive the cost-sensitive Indian market.</p>
<p>According to Sreeram, &#8220;TOPCon is expected to continue in the market for at least the next five years, and it is only going to improve considering the technological investments in it. Mono-PERC, however, will not go away from India because of its price advantage and ease of production. In China, they have moved on to TOPCon and HJT completely in terms of production because of the efficiency; in India, however, it will stay on for a few more years.&#8221;</p>
<p>A senior executive at a renowned module manufacturing company, on the condition of anonymity, expressed that even though his company is one of the few to install HJT lines, they are yet to scale the production given the increased demand for TOPCon in the market at the moment.</p>
<p>While talking about the future of the two top technologies, Krishnan says HJT can match TOPCon if the cost factor is mitigated by replacing silver with copper in mass manufacturing.</p>
<p>He said, &#8220;While the cost of CAPEX could come down when the capacity is increased, it must be competitive enough with TOPCon. The expectation is that after three to four years, both may have equal advantages. However, in the cost-sensitive Indian market, it will take even longer for HJT to gain traction.&#8221; He expected this to happen after 5- 6 years, provided the issues with HJT were sorted.</p>
<p>The success of either of these two technologies in India will be based on their overall performance, efficiency, and reliability with the lowest cost $/Wp, which is what Indian solar manufacturers considered when transitioning from multi to mono-PERC, and the same is likely to happen from P-type to N-type as well.</p>
<p>&#8220;Module manufacturers must closely track the direction of module technologies and strategically plan future investments based on anticipated technological shifts expected in the next 3 to 5 years to avoid the fate of many smaller polycrystalline manufacturers in India who failed to adapt to changing trends on time, and suffered as a result,&#8221; said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/satish-shetty/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Satish Shetty</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Satish-pic-1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Satish Shetty,</strong> Associate Editor at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/satish-shetty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Satish Shetty.</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Satish-pic-1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/satish-shetty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Satish Shetty</strong></a> is an Associate Editor with Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Satish was a multimedia news producer at Reuters, where he gained experience in digital news media. Satish has his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Broadcast Journalism from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Malaysia.<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/satish-shetty/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Satish Shetty.</a></div>
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TOPCon Module Tech Trumps HJT in Cost-Sensitive Indian Solar Market

<p>Inverters are critical to solar power generating systems, and string inverters are quickly catching up with central inverters in utility-scale projects in India.</p>
<p>Although inverters account for roughly 5% of the project cost, they are a vital component for the smooth functioning of any project.</p>
<p>String inverters are rapidly gaining popularity among solar developers. Demand for these inverters is typically in the distributed solar segment. But string inverters are also becoming popular for utility-scale solar systems due to newer flexible and scalable technology advancements.</p>
<p>Mercom is hosting a <a href="https://mercomindia.com/increasing-roi-of-utility-scale-solar-systems-through-string-inverters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">webinar</a> on &#8216;Increasing RoI of Utility-Scale Systems Through String Inverters&#8217; on March 30 to discuss the growing acceptance of string inverters and the factors driving the growth of string inverters in the solar space.</p>
<p><a href="https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3275075025332810000?source=Article"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-33646 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WEBINAR-Banner_Facebook_1200-x-630-copy.jpg" alt="" width="2024" height="1063" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WEBINAR-Banner_Facebook_1200-x-630-copy.jpg 2024w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WEBINAR-Banner_Facebook_1200-x-630-copy-300x158.jpg 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WEBINAR-Banner_Facebook_1200-x-630-copy-2000x1050.jpg 2000w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WEBINAR-Banner_Facebook_1200-x-630-copy-768x403.jpg 768w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WEBINAR-Banner_Facebook_1200-x-630-copy-1536x807.jpg 1536w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WEBINAR-Banner_Facebook_1200-x-630-copy-650x341.jpg 650w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WEBINAR-Banner_Facebook_1200-x-630-copy-624x328.jpg 624w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WEBINAR-Banner_Facebook_1200-x-630-copy-600x315.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 2024px) 100vw, 2024px" /></a></p>
<p>This webinar will bring together developers and manufacturers to discuss the advantages of string inverters and how they improve utility-scale systems&#8217; economics by maximizing system performance and reliability and reducing downtime.</p>
<p>The panelists at the webinar are C Chaudhary, Chief Operating Officer-Solar, <a href="https://amp.energy/global/india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amp Energy India</a>; Sudhir Pathak, Head-Design, Engineering &amp; QA, <a href="https://www.herofutureenergies.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hero Future Energies</a>; Prateek Sharma, Business Leader, India Key Accounts, <a href="https://en.sungrowpower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sungrow India</a>; and Rakesh BP, Technical Sales, <a href="https://solis.solar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Solis</a>. Priya Sanjay, Managing Director of Mercom India, will moderate the session.</p>
<p>Recently, MNRE <a href="https://mercomindia.com/deadline-for-bis-certification-extended-june-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> a fresh notification extending the self-certification of solar photovoltaic inverters under the Bureau of Indian Standards from December 31, 2021, to June 30, 2022. The extension was granted as the industry had sought more time for compliance, considering the issues relating to testing and the level of preparation of test labs.</p>
<p>Sungrow, Sineng Electric, and TBEA Energy were the top solar inverter suppliers in the Indian solar market in the first half (1H) of the calendar year (CY) 2021, according to Mercom&#8217;s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/sungrow-sineng-tbea-top-inverter-suppliers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Market Leaderboard 1H 2021</a> report. The top three suppliers represented 78% of the overall market share in 1H 2021.</p>
<p>You can <a href="https://mercomindia.com/increasing-roi-of-utility-scale-solar-systems-through-string-inverters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">register</a> for the webinar here.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Rakesh Ranjan</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Rakesh Ranjan,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn">
<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="77" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Rakesh Ranjan</strong></a> is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Prior to joining Mercom, he worked in many roles as a business correspondent, assistant editor, senior content writer, and sub-editor with bcfocus.com, CIOReview/Silicon India, Verbinden Communication, and Bangalore Bias. Rakesh holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a></p>
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Growing Use of String Inverters in Utility-Scale Projects

<p><a href="https://www.tatapowersolar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tata Power Solar</a>, <a href="http://www.fourthpartner.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fourth Partner Energy</a>, and <a href="https://www.prozealinfra.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prozeal Infra</a> emerged as the top solar rooftop installers in India in the calendar year (CY) 2020, according to Mercom’s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercom-india-solar-market-leaderboard-2021-market-shares-profiles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Market Leaderboard 2021</a>.</p>
<p>Together these three installers accounted for almost 40% of the total rooftop installations in 2020.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Tata-Power-Solar-Fourth-Partner-Prozeal-Infra-Top-Rooftop-Solar-Installers-in-2020.png"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-26174 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Tata-Power-Solar-Fourth-Partner-Prozeal-Infra-Top-Rooftop-Solar-Installers-in-2020.png" alt="Tata Power Solar, Fourth Partner, Prozeal Infra Top Rooftop Solar Installers in 2020" width="393" height="283" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Tata-Power-Solar-Fourth-Partner-Prozeal-Infra-Top-Rooftop-Solar-Installers-in-2020.png 393w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Tata-Power-Solar-Fourth-Partner-Prozeal-Infra-Top-Rooftop-Solar-Installers-in-2020-300x216.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 393px) 100vw, 393px" /></a></p>
<p>The top ten installers contributed to 66% of the total rooftop installations in 2020, while other small players contributed to the remaining 34%. However, rooftop solar capacity additions slowed down to just 719 MW during CY 2020, a decline of 35% compared to 2019, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>The segment also grapples with the government’s restrictive policy on net metering. The Ministry of Power has <a href="https://mercomindia.com/ministry-of-power-net-metering-rooftop-500-kw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> a draft amendment to Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020, which allows net metering for rooftop solar systems of loads up to 500 kW or up to the sanctioned load, whichever is lower and gross metering after. Earlier the cap was at 1 MW.</p>
<p>Installations slowed down in 2020 due to the pandemic. Construction activity for ongoing projects came to a halt, and the solar supply chain took a beating.</p>
<p>In 2019, Tata Power Solar, Fourth Partner Energy, and Azure Power were the <a href="https://mercomindia.com/tata-fourth-partner-azure-top-rooftop-installers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">top</a> solar rooftop installers in India. Together, these three installers accounted for nearly 22% of total rooftop installations in 2019.</p>
<p>Gujarat has been leading rooftop solar drive contributing to around 26% of the country’s installations, followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. Gujarat’s dominance in the rooftop segment can be attributed to highly rated DISCOMs and favorable policies.</p>
<p>Mercom’s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/2020-q4-annual-india-solar-market-update/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Q4 2020 and Annual India Solar Market Update</a> showed that the residential segment has been witnessing slow growth but has enormous potential. There is a strong surge towards rooftop installations from the commercial and industrial (C&amp;I) sector, which saw 33% installations in the last quarter of 2020.</p>
<p>With the levelized cost of energy of rooftop solar on an average 50-60% lower than retail electricity tariffs for C&amp;I consumers in many states, it makes for a great case for C&amp;I consumers to install rooftop solar and save on their energy bills.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/rahul-nair/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Rahul Nair</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><p>Rahul is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before entering the world of renewables, Rahul was head of the Gujarat bureau for The Quint. He has also worked for DNA Ahmedabad and Ahmedabad Mirror. Hailing from a banking and finance background, Rahul has also worked for JP Morgan Chase and State Bank of India. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rahul-nair/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Rahul Nair.</a></p>
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