India's BHEL and BEL to Jointly Develop Photovoltaic Production Plant

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Indian state-owned power equipment producer Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BSE:500103) (BHEL) (New Delhi) plans to invest more than $512 million setting up a solar photovoltaic (PV) production facility with an annual production capacity of 250 megawatts (MW). The unit will be set up in a 50:50 joint venture with Bharat Electronics Limited (BSE:500049) (BEL) (Bangalore, Karnataka) and will process solar cells, silicon wafers, and PV modules. A memorandum of understanding for setting up the joint venture was signed between the two firms in March.

BHEL and BEL are in talks with an overseas firm about technology transfer and expect to finalize a deal by the end of March 2010. The technology partner will also be offered a stake in the joint venture. The proposed facility is estimated to require about 400 MW of power for operations. BHEL and BEL are expected to finalize the location of the proposed facility by the end of this year. There are indications that the manufacturing plant could be set up in the southern state of Karnataka, subject to availability of power.

The joint venture will be backward integrated with BHEL's solar PV module facility in operation at the company's Electronics Division in Bangalore. The firm recently augmented the annual manufacturing capacity of the facility from 3 MW to 8 MW with an investment of $3.28 million. The unit is now equipped to manufacture 156 millimeter-by-156 millimeter solar-grade mono- and multi-crystalline silicon wafers with a thickness of 200 millimeters. BHEL has also completed process optimization trials for manufacturing these products. Silica is currently imported from the U.S. The new manufacturing facility will produce polysilicon material such as ingots, wafers, cells, modules and panels.

Output from the new manufacturing plant will be sold primarily to government agencies working toward the popularization of solar energy, while some products will be exported. BHEL currently exports about 50,000 solar cells per month to France, Germany, Italy and other countries. The firm also exports solar PV modules manufactured at the Bangalore unit to Australia, Germany and Italy. The solar PV modules manufactured by BHEL are certified to international standards set by the European Commission's Joint Research Center (Ispra, Italy). In India, BHEL has developed and installed standalone and grid-connected solar power plants in the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The firm recently commissioned two solar power plants of 100 kilowatts each in Lakshadweep.

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