Vikram Solar

Following a 140 MW solar capacity, the EPC contractor has commissioned an additional 85 MW for NTPC at Bilhaur in the Kanpur district. This takes the total project capacity to 225 MW, making it the State’s largest single-site PV plant.

Solar manufacturers have welcomed the bidding criteria which apply to the incentives offered for setting up gigawatt scale, high-efficiency PV production lines but would like a bigger budget, to finance significant capacity build-up.

The national production-linked incentive scheme introduced to encourage domestic manufacturing will now encompass solar. The PV policy will offer increased rewards for the production of more efficient panels and for Indian content.

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore has set up a solar-powered charging station to conduct the system’s impact assessment. The system—designed by UK-based renewable energy advisor GreenEnco—uses Vikram Solar’s 16 mono PERC solar modules of 400 Wp each, a hybrid inverter, and battery storage.

Domestic sales by manufacturing units located within special economic zones (SEZs) are treated as exports, attracting customs duty levy. This puts the SEZ manufacturers at a disadvantage compared to those in the domestic tariff area.

Imported solar inverters and lanterns will get costlier, as the union budget for the next fiscal year has proposed customs duty increases from 5%, for both items, to 20% and 15%, respectively. The budget, which also incentivizes Indian manufacturing of solar project components whilst giving a helping hand to raw materials, makes no mention of solar cells or panels.

The EPC contractor said it is the largest solar plant by capacity commissioned so far in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The plant is estimated to generate 319 million units of electricity per year, which is enough to power 1,45,662 houses annually. 

The government should consider offering a 50% capital subsidy for setting up R&D and quality testing infrastructure within the manufacturing units and a 200% super-deduction for the R&D expenditure on new and clean solar technology development. Simultaneously, it should look at implementing tariff barriers on imports for at least four-five years.

The Indian manufacturer has unveiled Series 6 mono-PERC modules in 120, 144, and 156 half-cell versions with claimed efficiency between 18.34% and 21.02%.

The 919.73 kWp captive solar plant at the module manufacturer’s Falta unit in West Bengal uses multiple PV technology advancements, including its own SOMERA monocrystalline, half-cut and full-cut cell panels.