India / India's biggest renewable energy firm to set up ₹2,000 cr solar cell plant

Goldman Sachs-backed ReNew Power, India's largest renewable energy company, has said it will invest about ₹2,000 crore to set up a solar cell and module manufacturing plant. The facility will initially have a 2GW manufacturing capacity and ReNew is in talks with various states to set up this unit. India imports 80% of its solar cells and modules from China.

Business Insider : Jul 17, 2020, 02:40 PM
New Delhi: India’s largest clean energy firm, ReNew Power, is set to manufacture solar cells with an initial capacity of 2000 MW. The company will invest about ₹2000 crore to execute the plan and create 2,000 direct jobs in India, according to Suman Sinha, chairman and managing director, ReNew Power.

Previously, the clean energy firm announced its plan to double its portfolio of running plants and project to 10,000 MW in the next five years. The company currently has a capacity of 5,600 MW. According to an Economic Times report, the company would invest ₹40,000 crore to ₹50,000 crore to implement the growth plan.

This comes after ReNew Power, earlier in November 2019, said that it aims to achieve “double-digit growth in power transmission.” Moreover, it was also hopeful of grabbing $20 billion in transmission projects this year. Thus, venturing into manufacturing solar cells would leave only the distribution part of the whole energy value chain for the company.

Sinha believes that despite COVId-19, the government has been announcing new bids in the renewable energy sector.

"This year despite the impact of Covid-19, the government has been actively bringing out new bids in the renewable energy space and companies have responded enthusiastically," Renew Power chairman and managing director Sumant Sinha told ET.