Waaree Energies To Commission US Module Manufacturing Plant By December-January
In the first phase, Waaree Energies aims to commission 1.6 GW capacity and then take it to 3 GW by 2027.
Waaree Energies Ltd., which listed on the exchanges earlier this month, plans to commission India’s first US-based module manufacturing facility by December end or January next year.
In the first phase, the company aims to commission 1.6 GW capacity and then take it to 3 GW by 2027. The long-term aim is to create a 5 GW capacity, a senior company official told NDTV Profit, on conditions of anonymity.
The factory has been built with floor space and utilities that can ramp up to a capacity of 3GW, the person said. The company is, overall, quite positive about the US market. It will look at the demand trends and be ready to build capacity in phases, first to 3GW and then further extension to 5GW, they said.
The company is hopeful of US market and policy evolution and plans to backward integrate and enter solar cell manufacturing in coming years.
Waaree is keen to reverse integrate and come up with a 5GW cell factory in the US as well, the official added.
Going ahead, the company plans to leverage the global demand through its integrated module manufacturing capacity in India and is looking to expand beyond the US as well. The company is evaluating international geographies like European Union and Middle East and has opened an office in Dubai.
US Facility To Complement Module Exports From India
Contrary to popular expectations, the upcoming US facility will not reduce solar module exports from India, rather the exports are expected to complement the domestic US production.
Waaree Energies has close to 13.6 GW of nameplate solar modules manufacturing capacity in India and actually produces around 6 GW. It exports close to 53% of the actual production to the US, according to JMK Research.
The exports will actually compensate the domestic consumers looking for comparatively economical products from India, since the cost of production in India is much lower, the official said.
For the US plant, barring the four South East Asian countries, Waaree can source raw materials from anywhere else. Initially the company will source raw materials, like cells, from its own plant and later diversify to other countries given the demand, the person quoted above said.
