Moser Baer Solar to invest up to $600 mn in 4 yrs

MUMBAI, INDIA: Moser Baer India, which announced that its PV business has attained the distinction of becoming the first Indian solar PV company to successfully achieve more than 100 MW solar installations globally, is now planning to invest up to $600 million in three to four years for expanding its manufacturing capacity of crystalline cells and silicon modules in India.

The company plans to raise the funds through a combination of debt, equity and internal accruals. At present, the production capacity of the company includes 90 mw of crystalline cells, 100 mw crystalline modules and 50 mw of thin films, said a PTI report.

With the launch of the National Solar Mission (NMS), the Indian solar photovoltaic (PV) market is expected to grow to 700 mw in the next fiscal as against the 150 mw capacity in FY 11, the report quoted Moser Baer India's Group CFO Yogesh Mathur as saying.

“In the initial phase, we plan to double our capacity of silicon modules. Later we plan to expand the capacity of our thin film module to around 150 mw by 2012-13,” Mathur said. He also said thin film modules are best suited for meeting the solar power demand of the Indian market, he added.

Earlier, Moser Baer India had said that the crystalline modules are widely bankable with leading banks and financial institutions across the world, making Moser Baer one of the preferred solar brands for the Solar Farm developers.

A few months back, the optical media equipment major's power subsidiary Moser Baer Projects Private Limited (MBPPL) had attracted an investment of Rs.1,350 crore from US-based private equity fund Blackstone.

Helped by the announcement of the planned capital expenditure, the shares of Moser Baer India was up 1.82 per cent in the BSE. At 11.25 AM, its shares were being traded for Rs 55.80 compared to the previous day's closing of Rs 54.80. Moser Baer India touched touched a high of Rs 56.20 and low of Rs 54.90 in early trade.