Premier Energies plans to invest Rs 6,000 cr over 3 years in ingot, wafer biz

New Delhi: Premier Energies is planning to invest around Rs 6,000 crore over the next three years to build ingot and wafer capabilities to become an integrated player in solar manufacturing in India, a senior company official has said.

This investment is part of the company's Rs 12,500 crore capex plan, which also includes more than doubling cell and module capacity to 10.6 gigawatt and 11.1 gigawatt and foraying into new areas like inverters, batteries and transformers, Vinay Rustagi, Chief Business Officer (CBO) at Premier Energies, told PTI in an interview.

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"We are investing to build our capabilities further. Our total investment in the ingot and wafer business will be approximately Rs 6,000 crore over the next three years (by 2028)," he said in reply to a question about whether the company is working on strategies of strong backward integration.

He informed that the project has been approved by the Andhra Pradesh government, which has provided 200 acres of land in Naidupeta, around 45 minutes away from Tirupati.

The company will set up 10 gigawatt of ingot and 10 gigawatt wafer capacity at the said, the CBO said, adding the work is expected to begin soon.

With the operationalisation of the ingot and wafer projects, Premier Energies will become a complete integrated player in the solar manufacturing in the country, Rustagi said.

At present, Premier Energies manufactures 3.6-gigawatt (GW) cells and 11.1 GW modules annually from plants situated around Hyderabad in Telangana.

A solar panel requires modules that contain cells, and cell manufacturing needs an ingot for which a wafer is necessary.

The official said that the investments are in line with the government's push for self-reliance in solar manufacturing.

On March 18, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) announced that it would include ingots and wafers in the ALMM framework, which was limited to modules and cells earlier, to strengthen the local solar manufacturing ecosystem and its usage in the domestic market.

The latest ALMM List-III for ingots and wafers will take effect from June 1, 2028.

Through the introduction of the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM), the government is encouraging the local industry to manufacture all components in India for its local application.

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"The investments are driven by the government's policy roadmap. The government has said that, from 2028 onwards, all the ingots and wafers consumed in India will have to be made domestically. So, we are setting up this capacity primarily to meet our captive requirements, but will also look to sell wafers in the open market," Rustagi said.