TATA BP Solor Expands Solar Manufacturing Capacity
TATA BP Solor Expands Solar Manufacturing Capacity By 62% to Serve Growing Solar Market in India
BENGALURU, 28 APRIL 2010. In a clear demonstration of its commitment to India and the growth of the solar energy market, Tata BP Solar, a joint venture between BP Solar and Tata Power and the pioneer and market leader in the Indian solar industry, announced that it has added a new production line of 32 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells at its plant in Bangalore. Added to its existing cell capacity of 52 MW, today’s development takes total cell capacity to 84 MW with module capacity at 125MW.
Reyad Fezzani, Director, Tata BP Solar and Mr Prasad Menon, Managing Director of The Tata Power Company, inaugurated the new Cell Line 3 at the Tata BP Solar plant located at Electronics City here this morning. The Chairman of BP plc, Mr Carl-Henric Svanberg, and Managing Director, Asia & the Americas, Mr Robert Dudley, were present on the occasion along with members of the Board and the entire team of Tata BP Solar led by Chairman, Adi Engineer as well as key customers and business associates.
The company manufactures high quality, low-cost crystalline silicon cells (both mono- and multi-crystalline) and solar modules used to generate electricity from sunlight. Tata BP Solar cells and modules are integrated into solar products such as home lighting systems, street lights, and telecommunication towers or connected to the electricity grid to export the power generated directly from solar plants on rooftops or in open fields.
BP Solar CEO, Mr. Reyad Fezzani, commented: “Tata BP Solar has an unrivalled record of profitable growth over 20 years. Global demand for Solar is expected to grow over 80% in 2010, and in India it is likely to grow fivefold to 150MW. In the longer term the Indian market is poised to become a world-scale market by 2022 stimulated by the supportive policies announced by the Government of India.”
Tata Power MD, Mr Menon added: “In view of the huge demand supply gap in the power sector in India, large scale use of solar energy is imperative, especially given the abundant sunshine available all over the country throughout the year. The key to growing the mass market is cost reduction which will not happen without achieving large-scale supply. Tata BP Solar is building some of India’s largest solar plants. Today’s development is a strong step in assuring supply to meet new opportunities coming up in India.”
Tata BP Solar CEO, Mr Subramanya said: “After more than two decades of growing the Indian market in the off-grid mode, Tata BP Solar is ready with the additional cells capacity to service the new market opening up in India in the context of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission.” The mission has set a target of generating 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022 and another 2,000 MW of off-grid solar installations. He added: “We are committed to contribute to the success of India’s solar mission by our quality products and solutions including our market leading guarantee of 85% power output from our solar panels even at the end of 25 years.”
Tata BP Solar: Tata BP Solar, the pioneer and market leader in the Indian solar industry, is a joint venture of BP Solar (51%), and The Tata Power Company Limited (49%) and has a solid track record of managing safety, growth and performance since its start in 1989. The company manufactures solar photovoltaic (PV) cells, solar modules, products and systems at its world class plants in Bangalore as well as delivers solar solutions to the end customer. The company has touched the lives of more than 12 million people in the Indian sub-continent through solar power applications such as village lighting, water pumping as well as for businesses such as telecommunications, railways, banks, defence establishments etc. Tata BP Solar has pioneered the grid-connect solar photovoltaic systems in India. Tata BP Solar has an all India network of 6 regional offices and 200 dealers and service centres. It exports more than 70% of its products to the quality-driven markets in Germany, Spain, and USA.
Tata Power: The Tata Power Company Limited is India’s largest private sector power utility with an installed generation capacity of about 3000 MW. The company has emerged as a pioneer in the Indian power sector, with a track record of performance, customer care and sustained growth. Tata Power has a presence in all the segments of the power sector viz generation (thermal, hydro, solar and wind), transmission, distribution, trading and fuel management. The Company’s 4000 MW Ultra Mega Power Project at Mundra (Gujarat) is on fast track and has established global footprint by acquiring 30% stake in Indonesian Coal Mines. It has successful public-private partnerships in generation, transmission and distribution- North Delhi Power Limited with Delhi Vidyut Board for distribution in North Delhi, ‘Powerlinks Transmission Ltd.’ with Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. for evacuation of Power from Tala hydro project in Bhutan to Delhi and ‘Maithon Power Ltd.’ with Damodar Valley Corporation for a 1050 MW Mega Power Project.
BP: BP is among the world’s largest energy companies with operations in over 90 countries and more than 92,000 employees. With a revenue of around $3 billion, our Indian operations include a Deepwater block in the KG basin, a Coal Bed Methane block in West Bengal, Castrol India Limited, Tata BP Solar, Petrochemicals licensing and Supply of crude oil and LNG. BP outsources over $500m (per annum) of its global IT, financial services and indirect procurement activities to India. BP Solar is a global company with over 1,600 employees focused on harnessing the sun’s energy. This includes the design, manufacture and marketing of quality solar electricity systems for a wide range of applications in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. With over 37 years experience and installations in more than 100 countries, BP Solar is one of the world’s leading solar companies and has manufacturing facilities in India and China.
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