SunEdison Teams Up with India's Adani Group for $4-Billion Mega Solar Factory

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--The US-based solar power technology and equipment-maker SunEdison Inc (NYSE: SUNE) (Belmont, California) has entered into an initial pact with India's logistics and energy business conglomerate Adani Enterprises Limited (BSE: 512599) (Ahmedabad, Gujarat), to set up the country's largest solar photovoltaic manufacturing facility in the western coastal state of Gujarat.

SunEdison has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Adani Group to build the $4-billion manufacturing facility near Adani's Mundra port in Gujarat.

SunEdison is a manufacturer of silicon and wafers used in making solar cells and chips, while it historically outsourced solar cell and panel manufacturing to suppliers in China and elsewhere to support its power project development business.

"The facility will manufacture solar panels to fuel solar power growth in India, furthering India's goals for clean, renewable energy independence, and will add up to 20,000 jobs to the local economy," Adani and SunEdison said in a joint statement, adding venture will boost domestic solar equipment supply to meet the huge requirement of the sector.

The manufacturing plant, to be constructed over a period of three years, would be designed to make low-cost panels capable of producing electricity that costs as much as power generated by using traditional fuels.

"During the first half of 2015, SunEdison and Adani will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the opportunity and business plan before starting construction of the facility," the statement further added.

The new factory, with an annual production capacity of 7.5 gigawatts (GW), will make the key materials for solar panels, starting with polysilicon that will then be turned into ingots and cut into wafers. The wafers will be chemically processed to create solar cells, which will then be assembled into panels.

Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL) (Changzhou, China), the largest solar panel-maker in the world, reached an annual production capacity of about 3.8 GW by the end of 2014, while First Solar Inc's (NASDAQ: FSLR) (Tempe, Arizona) capacity totaled to 2.4 GW as of September 2014. The factory with Adani indicates SunEdison's plan to create a secure, long-term supply of solar equipment for its project development unit.

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