City-based Jupiter International is looking to invest ₹6,500 crore over the next three years to expand capacity in the solar energy sector to become an integrated manufacturer.
The company is looking to have a capacity of 3 GW of wafers, 9.4 GW of cells and 6 GW of modules. With the integration of wafer production and module assembly, the company is looking to become a fully integrated solar manufacturer, with control over the entire value chain.
The company on Thursday said that this integration ensures enhanced control over quality standards, improved operational efficiency and cost optimisation.
“We currently have a capacity of 1GW of photovoltaic cells at our manufacturing facility in Himachal Pradesh. We are now looking to become an integrated player making wafers, cells as well as modules. The expansion would be funded through a mix of equity and debt,” said Alok Garodia, managing director, Jupiter International.
“A large part of our upcoming expansion will be in Odisha. But we are also looking at other states to expand in future. We anticipate a significantly large demand for cells in the coming years,” Garodia said, adding that there are not only opportunities to cater to the domestic demand but also exports.
According to CareEdge Ratings, India’s solar equipment manufacturing capacity is poised to grow with module and cell manufacturing capacities of around 80 GW and 50 GW respectively in the pipeline. This will entail a capex of nearly ₹1 lakh crore with an estimated debt funding of nearly ₹70,000 crore including investments in polysilicon and wafer capacities.
“While India installed 18.5 GW of renewable energy capacity in FY24, it is expected the annual renewable energy installations will surpass 35 GW over the next 2 years primarily supported by a pipeline of more than 100 GW of projects,” CareEdge Rating said. A large part of the new capacity addition will be in the solar sector.