Solar Semiconductor ties up with TUV Rheinland
by Busines Standard Reporter / Chennai/ Hyderabad June 19, 2008
Source: Business Standard
http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=lmnu1&subLeft=1&autono=326450
Solar Semiconductor (SS), a Hyderabad-based manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) modules, on Wednesday entered into a strategic partnership with TUV Rheinland India Limited for certifying safety and quality of the former’s products, systems and services. Disclosing this here, SS vice-president Ravi Surapaneni said the PV industry was changing rapidly in terms of the technology and materials used and a certification would ensure that quality was not compromised. TUV Rheinland would inspect SS’ plant at the Fab City annually to check manufacturing processes and quality of solar panels and related products.
Certification played an important role in on-grid businesses, which are still in a nascent stage in India. Only panels from certified companies will be allowed to connect to the grid, said TUV Rheinland managing director Enrico Ruhle. Stringent tests will be conducted followed by factory inspections to ensure consistency in globally-accepted product safety and quality codes, he said.
Later, speaking to Business Standard, Surapaneni said the company proposed to set up aluminium and glass hardening facilities as ancillary units once the plant at the Fab City achieved full capacity. At present, SS has two units for solar panels. It would add a third one in about 13,000 sft in the Fab City this year, which would triple the company’s production capacity to 220 Mw from the present 70 Mw, he added.
Solar Semiconductor currently has an order book of $2 billion (Rs 8,000 crore) to be delivered in three years. It will invest about $1.1 billion (Rs 4,000 crore) in four years in deploying new technologies besides expanding its facility at the Fab City. The company is also looking at setting up a facility in Mexico after consolidating growth in India. “We want to be closer to the US and Europe markets,” Surapaneni said. The proposal is still at the boardroom stage and will take about two years for the company to take a call, he said.