Applied & Moser Baer to set up thin film solar fab. in India
Times News Network / March 6,2007
Source: IndiaTimes
http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Moser_Baer_to_set_up_thin_film_solar_fab/articleshow/1727200.cms
NEW DELHI: Within weeks of government unveiling a policy to encourage semiconductor fabrication and other micro and nano technology manufacturing, Moser Baer on Monday announced it would establish the world’s largest Thin Film Solar Fab at Greater Noida, entailing an investment of $250 million over the next three years.
Moser Baer has inked a technology partnership with US-based Applied Materials for this project to manufacture large area Thin Film solar modules. Thin film solar modules are ideal for energy farms and rural applications.
The company plans to start with solar modules capable of generating 40MW of power initially and ramp-up to 200 MW by 2009. Commercial production would begin from March 2008 and the revenues will start to accrue from April 2008 onwards.
Moser Baer would initially focus on the export market, and sees $100 million of revenues per annum from the project. “At present, Western Europe, Japan and the Western US are major solar and PV markets,” Mr Ravi Khanna, CEO of Moser Baer Photo Voltaic said.
The project would qualify for government incentives under the recently announced fab policy, which also spell out subsidies for PV manufacturing. According to Yogesh Mathur, Group CFO, “In the first phase, the investment for capex, equipment and facility will be to the tune of $100 million. Of this, while 50% would come in form of debt (project finance from banks) and 30% from Moser Baer, project accruals, and third party sources, about 20% is expected as support from Government’s recently announced policy.”
Keeping in mind the massive investment requirement, the project is being implemented through an Special Purpose Vehical (SPV). Photovoltaic modules based on large area Thin Film technology bring cost parity between solar generation and grid power.
According to market estimates, the Thin Film based solar modules could see large emerging applications and strong demand globally that is expected to grow ten fold — from 250MW currently to 2GW with a market size of $5 billion by 2010. Global players in the market include First Solar, Inc., which manufactures solar modules with an advanced thin film semiconductor process that significantly lowers solar electricity costs.
Moser Baer’s announcement comes close on the heels of the announcement of a government’s policy last month, to encourage high-tech manufacturing in the country. The centre’s package, pegs the incentive at 20% of the capital expenditure during the first 10 years for units located in SEZs and at 25% for units outside SEZs.
For semiconductor manufacturing (wafer fabs) plants, the threshold Net Present Value (NPV) of investments would be Rs 2,500 crore, while the threshold for other products like liquid crystal displays(LCDs), organic emitting diodes, plasma display panels, storage devices, photovoltaics and other advanced micro and nano technology products and assembly and testing is Rs 1,000 crore.