Bigger incentives offered by Odisha have lured Saatvik Solar, one of the largest solar module manufacturers in India, to kick start their cell and module manufacturing project in the eastern state while simultaneously putting their Gujarat plans on the back burner.
“We had purchased a 60 acre land for a solar project at Gandhidham in Kutch district about 2-3 years ago. We are not setting up the project now. The land is 60 kilometers from Kandla port and is also in close proximity to the Mundra port. In Odisha too we have a similar size of land where we are going ahead with cell and module manufacturing plant,” said Prashant Mathur, Chief Executive Officer of Saatvik, which has taken up space in the Special Economic Zone operated by Tata Steel in Gopalpur which is near ports like Paradip and Vizag.
The company located in Ambala is investing ₹2,000 crore in Phase-1 of the Odisha project, which involves 2.5 GW of cell manufacturing capacity and 4 GW of module manufacturing capacity. “For cell manufacturing we need three important things --- electricity, water and effluent treatment plant. Odisha has promised a consistent supply of electricity and water at a low price. For the ETP the Odisha government is providing the infrastructure. Odisha is giving better incentives and has better policies. Our land is close to the port so we can export and import and therefore we have chosen Odisha...We will consider setting up an ancillary project in Gujarat in the future. We will not be able to set up a cell project in Gujarat as of now. We may consider setting up an ancillary project in Gujarat possibly for making wafers or ingots in the future,” said Mathur during a recent interaction in Ahmedabad.
Mathur said India’s solar PV manufacturing market was highly competitive, and “Gujarat has been a focus state for us. So are other states,” he quipped, adding that the “cost of production” in Odisha would be much lower compared to Gujarat. “We had evaluated the costs,” Mathur added.
Closer home, Grew Energy, the solar energy arm of Gujarat-based Chiripal Group, this year translocated its proposed Rs 4500 crore solar manufacturing unit from Gujarat to Jammu. In May 2024, the company conducted ground-breaking for its facility at Kathua, where a manufacturing unit for 3.2 GW of high-efficiency solar modules and a 2.8 GW unit for ingots, wafers, and cells will be built.
“The initial plan was to set up the project in Dholera in Ahmedabad. But then we selected Jammu as there is huge government support for setting up solar parks in Ladakh and Uttar Pradesh. We have a timeline committed to the central government under the PLI scheme, so we did not want to delay it any further. Vinay Thadani, director of Grew Energy Pvt Ltd, told businessline earlier about the project expected to be commissioned by the first quarter of 2025-26.
Waaree Energies, which is raising an IPO, plans to expand (Chikhli facility) one of its four solar module manufacturing facilities in Gujarat and also set up a 6GW integrated facility for manufacturing ingots, wafers, solar cells, and PV modules in Odisha.
Among the states, Gujarat continues to be among the top three states for solar module manufacturing along with Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, while for solar cell manufacturing, Telangana, Gujarat, and Himachal Pradesh were among the top states during the calendar year 2023, as per Mercom India Research. During fiscal 2024, India’s cumulative solar module manufacturing capacity has reached an estimated 63 GW, with Waaree Energies, Adani Mundra PV, ReNew Power, Saatvik and Vikram Solar leading the way. In comparison, the cumulative cell manufacturing capacity is just about 13 GW.