Rooftop solar subsidy scheme a billion dollar opportunity for Tata Power
PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, established this February, looks to provide subsidies for rooftop solar installation to 10 million households. Sinha reckons the scheme could generate demand for 25-30 GW of solar modules over its duration. Tata Power wants to cater to 5-6 GW of this demand, he said.
At an estimated price of 20 cents per watt, according to Sinha, this could translate to a business opportunity of $1-1.2 billion ( ₹8,350-10,000 crore). Sinha, who says Tata Power holds 13% of the domestic solar module market, wants to ramp up its share to 20% on the back of its new solar cell and module manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu. Set up at an investment of ₹3,000 crore, the Tirunelveli-based unit can manufacture 4 GW of solar cells and modules each year.
“The manufacturing plant will be fully operational this year. The module (manufacturing unit) will be fully operational (throughout the year) while the cell will be operational for, say, about 9 months," Sinha said. The new manufacturing unit will also give the company an advantage in the rooftop solar scheme, as the scheme mandates the use of domestically manufactured solar cells and modules.
“Since we have put up the plant, we will be at a huge advantage, because we will be able to use our own domestic cell and module for this scheme," he said. “There is just one other domestic manufacturer with a 2 GW domestic cell manufacturing capacity and another one with 2 GW is coming up." ReNew Power has a 2 GW solar cell manufacturing unit in Gujarat and an Adani Enterprises unit is setting up another 2 GW plant in the state. After Tata Power's new plant goes live, the company's total installed solar module capacity would be 4.9 GW including 600 MW annual capacity at its
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