Tata BP Solar expands manufacturing capacity by 52 per cent

Tata BP Solar, a joint venture between BP Solar and Tata Power, today announced the addition of a new production line of 32 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells at its plant in Bangalore.

With this, Tata BP Solar's cell capacity would go up from 52 MW to 84 MW, with module capacity at 125MW, the company said in a release.

Tata BP Solar 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.
 
"Tata BP Solar has an unrivalled record of profitable growth over 20 years. Global demand for Solar is expected to grow over 80 per cent in 2010, and in India it is likely to grow fivefold to 150MW. The Indian market is poised to become a world-scale market by 2022, stimulated by the supportive policies announced by the Government of India," BP Solar CEO Reyad Fezzani said.

"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 Power MD Menon 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," Tata BP Solar CEO Subramanya said.

The government's solar energy 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.