First Solar’s new plant bets big on the potential of the Indian market

Chennai: American solar technology company, First Solar is all set to inaugurate its first India plant at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, on January 11. DH’s E T B Sivapriyan spoke to the company’s CEO, Mark Widmar, on the Indian market, the technology used by the company, and its China strategy. Edited excerpts:

After a decade in the Indian market, what prompted First Solar to start making its thin solar modules here?

We always look at the end market and the sustainability of the demand. Clearly, there is a focus around renewable energy in India to help achieve its climate change objectives. India is an attractive market and we began thinking on how best to support or enable that market since we follow a different approach in terms of our manufacturing process. Our semiconductor is a different connector than our primary competition and we have a vertically integrated business. We prefer to be close to the end market and moreover, our technology performs very well in hot, humid climates. We are primarily focused on utility scale than residential and when we assessed it from those dimensions, it was very clear that India will be an attractive market for us.

Will the Chennai plant cater only to the domestic market or also look at exports?

We will do some exports but the primary focus is we want to make the product for the Indian market. We will be exporting to the US, due to some requirements under the incentives that we receive. We do have some amount of exports that we need to make. It could be Europe, southeast Asia, or even the Middle East. There is no limitation if we decide to export. 

Can you elaborate on this MoU you’ve signed with the Tamil Nadu government for a Rs 2,500-crore investment?

The first factory is up and running and it is phenomenal that we have been able to achieve its operationalisation in a short time. The new MoU that we are working with the Tamil Nadu government will infuse fresh investment that would allow us to produce more modules every day.

The US International Development Finance Corporation is infusing funds not just into First Solar’s India plant but also in Tata Power Solar’s upcoming cell and module plant in Tamil Nadu. Is this a strategic move by the US and India to reduce dependence on China?

I think there is a strategic intent from both the US and India relating to minimising any overt reliance on any country. We are very unique and we are the only ones in the world who have been able to take a thin film and we can get it to scale. The vast majority of the world is trying to compete with personal silicon, which is more of a legacy technology that China dominates. We are not going to work with the Chinese and we now have an opportunity to be technology leaders by capturing the opportunity and cycles of innovation.We can together create the next generation of instructive technology.

What is your assessment of the solar energy market in India?

India is probably going to be a 20 to 25 gigawatt market but some projections say the market size could go up to 50 GW by the end of this decade. A high percentage of it will be addressable from our technology standpoint and it is an attractive and large market. Everybody sees it that way but we should have a stable and predictable policy environment with regard to the sector. I think there is a great policy environment now that allows domestic players to compete on their own. But if some of those policies were to change, it could disrupt the market.