New Delhi, October 2 (PTI) – The Adani Group, led by billionaire Gautam Adani, has ambitious plans to establish a substantial integrated solar manufacturing capacity of 10 GW by 2027, in a bid to capitalize on the growing demand for renewable energy solutions, according to sources closely associated with the company.
As of now, the Adani Group boasts a solar manufacturing capacity of 4 GW. In an impressive move, Adani Solar has secured a confirmed order book exceeding 3,000 MW for exports, which is scheduled to be fulfilled over the next 15 months. The company recently procured USD 394 million in funding for solar manufacturing through a trade finance facility facilitated by Barclays PLC and Deutsche Banks AG.
While India has significantly augmented its solar energy generation from 2.63 GW in March 2014 to an impressive 71.10 GW in July 2023, the manufacturing infrastructure has not kept pace with this rapid growth.
To address this disparity, the Indian government adopted a two-pronged strategy, employing both trade and non-trade measures such as safeguard duties, an approved list of module manufacturers (ALMM), and a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. These measures provided the much-needed impetus to encourage private sector players, including the Adani Group, to escalate investments in the solar manufacturing sector.
Following the success of Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL), the group’s listed renewable energy generation entity, Adani Enterprises (AEL), made substantial progress in establishing and nurturing solar PV manufacturing with the inception of Adani Solar in 2015. Adani Solar commenced manufacturing operations in 2016, initially with a 1.2 GW cell and module manufacturing capacity. Remarkably, in less than six years, Adani Solar has expanded its manufacturing capacity more than threefold to reach its current status of 4 GW module and 4 GW cell capacity, establishing itself as one of the fastest-growing solar manufacturing companies in terms of capacity expansion.
Adani has successfully constructed India’s largest solar PV capacity for cells and modules at the Mundra Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Since its inception, Adani Solar has sold over 7 GW of modules, catering to both domestic and global demand.
According to the Mercom’s India Solar Market Leaderboard 2023, Adani Solar secured a position among the top 3 solar module suppliers in 2022.
Now, Adani Solar is undertaking the ambitious project of building the world’s first fully integrated and comprehensive solar manufacturing ecosystem with a capacity of 10 GW in Mundra, Gujarat, set to be completed by 2027. This facility will be the group’s largest manufacturing setup and is expected to generate more than 13,000 green jobs. The facility will encompass the entire solar manufacturing ecosystem, from metallurgical-grade silicon to PV modules, including ancillary components and supporting utilities, all co-located within the same geographical area.
With extensive backward integration across the value chain, covering modules, cells, ingots, wafers, polysilicon, and ancillaries such as EVA, backsheet, glass, aluminum frames, junction boxes, and trackers, Adani Solar is poised to strengthen India’s position as a global solar manufacturing hub.
Sources have revealed that Adani Solar has been at the forefront of adopting new technologies and implementing digital transformation. The company’s collaborations with leading global institutes and certification laboratories such as ISC, UNSW, PI Berlin, Fraunhofer, among others, have significantly bolstered its technological capabilities.
In a significant development, India’s solar cell and module exports by domestic original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) surged to Rs 8,840 crore in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), marking a remarkable 364 percent increase from the previous fiscal year’s figure of Rs 1,819 crore, according to the rating agency Icra.