Date: 09/04/2009

A white paper by SEMI to get updated on India's solar PV industry and market

SEMI India, recently formed regional office of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) has released a white paper detailing the market-potential and opportunities for solar energy market. The paper named "The Solar PV Landscape in India - An Industry Perspective," was developed by the SEMI India PV Advisory Committee. The report was released by Mr. K. Subramanya, CEO, Tata BP Solar.

Paper highlights most of the well known facts about India energy problems and the solutions. This paper says, "India is already home to 9 photovoltaic cell manufacturers and nearly 20 module manufacturers, and the country benefits from an abundant endowment of solar radiation, averaging 300 sunny days per year. Effective public policies in support of PV manufacturing and wider adoption could substantially reduce India's dependence on fossil fuels for power generation, and produce enormous socio-economic benefits."

Mr. K. Subramanya, CEO, Tata BP Solar, said, "This is the first paper of its kind, presenting the Industry view of the transformational potential of PV in India, highlighting challenges and making a call for action. A collaborative effort between the Government, industry, academia and other stakeholders, can result in the creation and execution of a shared vision for PV, with benefits across multiple dimensions. If the recommendations are pursued with vigour, India, with its combination of market, industrial and research infrastructure and advantageous geographical location, could well write the future and lead the world in solar PV."

Another well known expert of semiconductor industry, Dr. Madhusudan Atre, President, Applied Materials India said, "I am pleased that SEMI PV has considered India to be an important growing region. The first of the position papers from SEMI India PV presents the industry perspective on the challenges, opportunities and benefits of solar PV in India. Various focus areas - in the areas of productivity, standards, cost, total systems solutions, environment health and safety, IP, workforce development, etc - need to be addressed. It is an initial step in the direction of creating a robust PV ecosystem and is a call for collaborative participation from industry, government, academia and other stakeholders to grow the Indian PV industry, and address the country's present and future energy needs."

The opportunities highlighted by Sathya Prasad, President, SEMI India, includes solar based power stations in rural areas for lighting and to power irrigation pumps, providing backup power for the growing network of cell towers.

Key challenges facing the growth and development of PV in India as identified in the paper are:
1. The need for closer industry-government co-operation
2. The need for common industry standards
3. The need for focused, collaborative and goals-driven R& D for the technology to achieve scale and for India to attain technology leadership
4. The need for financing infrastructure, models and arrangements - to spur the PV industry and consumption of PV products
5. The need for investment in training and development of human resources - to drive industry growth and PV adoption
6. The need for intra-industry cooperation in expanding the PV supply chain, in technical information sharing through conferences and workshops, in collaborating with BOS manufacturers and in gathering and publishing accurate market data, trends and projections
7. The need to build consumer awareness - about the technology, its economics and usage
To address these challenges, the paper offers recommendations and a call for action including

1. The creation of a common Government-industry vision to establish India as a PV world leader
2. Development of effective financing infrastructure and models that will motivate large-scale PV adoption and investments in the PV industry
3. Expanding the deployment of PV in off-grid applications
4. Expanding grid-connected PV generation on a large scale.

Once the elections get over, the new government has the option to take this as high priority task. Industry might have to suggest and wait till then.
For further details and to procure the white paper visit www.semi.org