Moser Baer to invest Rs80 crore in photo voltaic technology

Mumbai: Moser Baer India Ltd board has approved an additional investment of nearly Rs80 crore ($17 million) in Moser Baer Photo Voltaic Ltd (MBPV), its wholly owned subsidiary in the high growth global photo voltaic industry. The investment would be made in a phased manner and provide further impetus to MBPV's technology and R&D initiatives into exciting and emerging technology verticals in the global PV space.

MBPV is setting up a PV cell and module-manufacturing project with an 80 MW capacity in the country's first renewable energy SEZ at Greater Noida.

MBPV will leverage on the group's core strengths in base material engineering, thin film coating and precision sputtering, to emerge as an efficient manufacturer of PV cells using silicon-based technology.

The global photovoltaic market is on a high growth curve - sales expected to grow over six fold to $40 billion by 2010. The demand is also highly price elastic.

"MBPV has been aggressively evaluating emerging alternative technologies which provide a clear roadmap to take PV electricity costs down to conventional energy price points. This investment will enable MBPV to take position in technologies, like nano, concentrator photovoltaic (CPV), etc, which should enable us to differentiate ourselves and also provide a sustainable competitive edge and technological leadership." Ravi Khanna, chief executive officer, Moser Baer Photo Voltaic Ltd, said.

Over the past couple of quarters MBPV has made steady progress and has already executed contracts for supply of equipment and technology. The project is on fast track to commercialisation by end-2007. The business should also improve overall returns on capital employed, as it is significantly less capital-intensive than the existing business.