Rooftop shining for solar gear-maker Waaree

Waaree Energies Ltd, which has been primarily in solar PV module manufacturing, is now witnessing a steady rise in business from rooftop solar projects.

According to Nitin Kapadnis, Senior Vice-President, Franchise, Waaree Energies, solar module accounts for nearly 85 per cent of its total business. The remaining 15 per cent comes from rooftop solar projects and other solar products.

Solar growth

“Installation of rooftop solar projects is doubling on a year-on-year basis in almost every State. This is set to increase further as the market is expanding with increasing awareness among consumers,” Kapadnis told BusinessLine.

Modules, which contribute around 80-85 per cent of its business, are expected to come down to around 50 per cent in the next two to three years and the remaining 50 per cent will be taken up by rooftop projects and other solar products as the scope of growth in these products is higher.

On a pan-India basis, while utility projects were doing fairly well, rooftop projects were not growing much. Waaree saw an opportunity in the segment and started expanding its presence.

Govt incentives

“There were incentives the that government was giving to end-consumers for setting up rooftop projects and this way the dependence on State electricity boards is also expected to come down. This market is growing fast and is set to expand further,” he said.

Installation of rooftop solar projects for Waaree has been doubling on a year-on-year basis in the last two years, he added.

Apart from module and rooftop projects, Waaree manufactures and sells solar inverters, thermal applications which are used for domestic and industrial purposes, solar water pump for farmers and solar consumer products such as solar bags, solar chargers, lanterns, street-lights and table- lights.

Capacity addition

The company is looking to scale up its solar PV module manufacturing capacity by 500 MW to around 2,000 MW in the next two years. It currently has a manufacturing capacity of 1,500 MW at its plants in Surat and Umbergaon in Gujarat.

The imposition of safeguard duty on solar imports from China and Malaysia is likely to help domestic manufacturers compete better as the prices of imported and domestic PVs are at par.

The company has also been setting up solar power centres for providing after-sales service to consumers. The target is to set up such centres in close to 1000 towns spread across Tier 1/2/3 cities. The company has set up centres in 275 towns and plans to take this up to 350 this year.

sources@bussiness line