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					</table><p>Solar manufacturer Renaissance Solar and Electronic Materials (<a href="https://rsolec.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RSOLEC</a>), with operations in India and the United States, has announced it would set up a 5 GW silicon crystal and wafer manufacturing facility in India with an investment of $300 million.</p>
<p>The location for the manufacturing facility has not been finalized yet. The project will be commissioned by the end of 2025.</p>
<p>For the upcoming five years, the company&#8217;s focus will revolve around crystal growth and wafer manufacturing activities within India. In the long term, RSOLEC has plans to broaden its manufacturing operations across the entire solar value chain.</p>
<p>The facility will employ the Recharge Czochralski process, which can be adapted for the emerging Continuous Czochralski process for crystal growth. Wafer production will be based on the DCW platform, capable of producing thin wafers with a thickness of less than 100 micrometers.</p>
<p>The primary product to be manufactured will be high-quality silicon wafers characterized by low oxygen content, extended lifetime, and controlled resistivity. These wafers will be compatible with various solar cell technologies, including TOPCon, PERC, HJT, and Tandem structures.</p>
<p>Speaking to Mercom, Milind Kulkarni, Chairman and CEO of RSOLEC, said, “We are starting with silicon crystals and wafers. The entire value chain has three nodes: polysilicon, ingots (crystals) &amp; wafers, and cells &amp; modules. We have looked at the techno-commercial case for each node and decided to start with silicon crystals and wafers. Initially, we will start with 5 GW, and as per our roadmap, we plan to take it to 9 GW by 2030. Our main goal is to achieve 20 G W by 2031-32. There are quite a few attractive locations, but we have not finalized it yet. At this stage, we can’t disclose the location.”</p>
<p>About funding for the projects, he said, “Our funding will come from India and the U.S. We are also having talks with strategic investors. It’s a combination of institutional investors as well as strategic investors.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Our commissioning will be complete by the end of 2025, and the first product will be out by early 2026. Initially, it will be silicon crystals and wafers. After 2030, we will take a call on whether to vertically integrate cells and modules. Our vertically integrated downstream and upstream production will happen only after 2030,” Kulkarni added.</p>
<p>The company&#8217;s strategic plan envisions achieving a capital efficiency of less than $35 million per GW.</p>
<p>Recently, India-based solar module maker Waaree Energies <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/waaree-10-billion-expand-solar-manufacturing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised</a> ₹10 billion (~$120.8 million) in a second round of equity funding led by ValueQuest, a boutique portfolio management company, to help expand its existing manufacturing capacity by 6 GW. The additional capacity will include manufacturing solar ingots, wafers, cells, and modules.</p>
<p>Earlier, Adani Solar had <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/daily-news-wrap-up-adani-large-monocrystalline-silicon-ingot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> India’s first large monocrystalline silicon ingot at its Mundra facility. The company completed the backward integration of the ingot line infrastructure in seven months. Adani Solar plans to increase its ingot and wafer capacity by 2 GW by the end of 2023 and to further increase production to 10 GW by 2025.</p>


Solar Manufacturer RSOLEC to Build 5 GW Crystal and Wafer Facility in India


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					</table><p>To meet the ambitious target of 280 GW by 2030, India must install 27 GW of capacity annually until 2030.</p>
<p>Currently, India has a module manufacturing capacity of 24 GW and a cell manufacturing capacity of 4 GW.</p>
<p>India&#8217;s current module manufacturing projection, excluding the capacity under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) program, is expected to be 8-9 GW until 2024. This translates to a total capacity addition of 24 GW by 2024. The cell manufacturing capacity will be 14 GW by the same year.</p>
<p>In November 2020, the government <a href="https://mercomindia.com/india-gets-incentive-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved</a> the PLI program for ten critical sectors to enhance India&#8217;s manufacturing capabilities and exports under the &#8216;Aatmanirbhar Bharat&#8217; initiative.</p>
<p>The two-day <a href="https://mercomindia.com/event/solar-summit-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mercom India Solar Summit 2022</a>, which began on July 28 in New Delhi, discussed issues relating to the vertical integration of solar manufacturing in India in a session titled <strong>&#8216;Plans and Progress of Vertically Scaling Solar Manufacturing in India.&#8217;</strong></p>
<p>The panelists were Sujoy Ghosh<strong>, </strong>Vice President &amp; Country Managing Director -India, <a href="https://www.firstsolar.com/en-IN/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">First Solar</a>;  Someshwer Dutt Sharma<strong>, </strong>Vice President – Innovation New Initiatives at <a href="https://avaadaenergy.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Avaada Group</a>; and Rahul Bhutiani<strong>, </strong>Head of Sales &amp; Marketing, <a href="https://www.adanisolar.com/">Adani Solar</a>.</p>
<p>The session was moderated by Priya Sanjay, Managing Director, Mercom India.</p>
<p>The panel discussed timelines for cell, wafer, and polysilicon manufacturing to catch up and the technologies being planned for production beyond polycrystalline and monocrystalline passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells.</p>
<p><strong>Integrated solar manufacturing </strong>On First Solar&#8217;s foray into the Indian market, Sujoy Ghosh said, &#8220;We are one of the few solar manufacturing companies outside China, and we see India as an important market. We have been engaging with the Indian government since 2016. Things have changed in India. After the implementation of the Basic Customs Duty (BCD) and the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM), the domestic manufacturing industry is well equipped to compete with cheap Chinese exports. Post-Covid, the risk of logistics has increased. It&#8217;s better to have the manufacturing segment near the point of demand now.&#8221;</p>
<p>On thin film technology, Ghosh said, &#8220;We are a thin-film manufacturer and have the entire manufacturing process under one roof. It&#8217;s a very competitive process, with zero dependency on silicon. We currently have 2.5 GW of manufacturing capacity in the country and are in a position to give the lowest cost of production. Earlier, we didn&#8217;t sell modules in India because we lacked capacity. But now, the demands have increased, and we are in a better position. We have the confidence to stand against any technology and will always be competitive.&#8221;</p>
<p>In the last 16-18 months, the solar sector has been impacted by several factors, including supply chain issues. Supply chain disruptions have highlighted the need for vertical integration of the solar manufacturing ecosystem.</p>
<p>Stressing the need for an integrated solar manufacturing setup, Rahul Bhutiani said, &#8220;We have an opportunity to grow. We are looking at challenges due to supply chain issues. We need a fully integrated manufacturing setup, and we should not depend on other countries. We are planning to expand with 4 GW of cell and module manufacturing capacity by 2024, and we are also planning to have a fully-integrated manufacturing capacity by 2025. We are also working on setting up an ancillary ecosystem where we will have all the ancillaries. So all these steps will help us achieve our manufacturing ambitions.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We have a captive supply chain, and the silicon supply chain is commoditized. We work with our captive suppliers and are insulated from the ups and downs of the commodities. It is tough to compete against dumping. The best thing about us is that we have the ability to project the cost for three to four years, and we bring a certain amount of certainty in terms of cost,&#8221; noted Ghosh.</p>
<p><strong>Polysilicon production </strong></p>
<p>Bhutiani said Adani was looking at integrating the vertical and ancillary manufacturing capabilities in the near future. He said things would be a bit difficult for the next two years.</p>
<p>&#8220;Currently, we have 1.5 GW of multicrystalline modules. We plan to upgrade and convert it to 2 GW of mono PERC and 2 GW of TOPCon by the end of the year. We are basically looking at integrating vertical and ancillary manufacturing capabilities. We are working to make this happen to control the modules&#8217; production. With the duties in place, the government is doing everything to promote domestic manufacturing,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Regarding the current geopolitical situation and the energy crisis in the European Union, Bhutiani said, &#8220;If we don&#8217;t have energy security, we will struggle like the European Union. If we dream of energy security, we&#8217;ll have to endure the pain for the next two years. We are planning for a 10 GW manufacturing capability by 2025 and may look at further expansion. The government is looking at the manufacturing sector closely, and in the next decade, there will be a big opportunity for developers and manufacturers. The next three years are very critical. If we don&#8217;t allow manufacturers to grow, it will be detrimental to the manufacturing segment.&#8221;</p>
<p>Sharing his company&#8217;s plans, Sharma said, &#8220;We are planning to set up cell and module manufacturing capacity of 3 GW. We will start production by the end of next year or the start of 2024. We will ramp it up to 5 GW by 2025, and it will be fully integrated. We will also enter into polysilicon manufacturing, for which the government has to provide all the details. Currently, the trend is TOPCon, and we can upgrade mono PERC to TOPCon. Once you control polysilicon, you can control the whole manufacturing process.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8221; Vertical integration is crucial for the production of polysilicon. Vertical integration will take some time, but it will help to ramp up the production capacity. We are also planning to get into silicon mining,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>In February this year, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) <a href="https://mercomindia.com/module-pli-auction-winners-list-jindal-out-adani-in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> an updated list of successful bidders for setting up manufacturing capacities for a minimum of 10 GW of vertically-integrated high-efficiency solar modules under the PLI program. According to the updated list, Reliance New Energy Solar&#8217;s PLI award amount is increased to ₹19.17 billion (~$254.24 million) from the earlier ₹11.90 billion (~$160 million) for a capacity of 4 GW. Adani was awarded a PLI of ₹6.63 billion (~$87.93 million), out of the total quoted amount of ₹36 billion (~$477.44 million) for a capacity of nearly 737 MW under the bucket filling method, according to Mercom sources. Shirdi Sai Electricals&#8217; PLI award stayed the same at ₹18.75 billion (~$252 million) for a capacity of 4 GW.</p>


Vertical Integration of Manufacturing Key to Solar Sector Growth

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