Renewable Energy Expo in India

The UL booth at the Renewable Energy Expo in India.

The global photovoltaic industry is constantly striving to bring down the cost of producing energy from solar panels by adopting various means like reducing the quantity of silicon used, including looking at alternate materials, improving the efficiency of manufacturing process. Another important strategy is moving manufacturing from high cost regions like the U.S. and Europe to low cost countries like China and India, where huge reserves of cheap manpower are present.

In the last couple of years we have seen that India is emerging as a major player in PV manufacturing, with over 50 players setting up manufacturing facilities capable of producing PV Modules across technologies like Crystalline, Thin Film and Concentrator PV. Some big players like Moser Baer, Tata BP Solar, Reliance and Signet Solar have announced plans to establish facilities that can manufacture more than 200 MWp per annum.

This explosive growth in PV Manufacturing was evident in the recently concluded Renewable Energy India 2008 Expo held in New Delhi, India. The Expo was organized by the MNRE (Ministry of New & Renewable Energy) in association with the IREDA (Indian Renewable Energy Development Authority) as a platform for the renewable energy industry to showcase its technology and avenues for growth. The expo had around 180 exhibitors and was visited by 15,000 delegates from more than 20 countries. UL also introduced its services in the renewable energy industry for various products such as Solar PV Modules, Solar Inverters, Wind Turbine Components.