According
to Gartner, the Indian Government’s Special Incentive Package Scheme
(SIPS), aimed at attracting semiconductor manufacturing investments in
India by providing subsidies and tax breaks, is also having a
significant impact on the photovoltaic industry. Currently, investments
of $2.6 billion during the next three years have already been improved
with a further $7.4 billion worth of projects under consideration,
noted Gartner market research analyst Ganesh Ramamoorthy in a weekly
newsletter to clients.
The $2.6 billion of approvals come from U.S.-based Signet Solar ($2 billion), India-based Moser Baer Photovoltaics ($250 million), Videocon Group ($250 million) and XL Telecommunications and Energy ($75 million).
The projects under consideration include Reliance Industries ($5 billion), Chandradeep Solar, Neotech Solutions, Photon Energy Systems, Surana Ventures and Ram Terra Solar, which total approximately $6 billion in potential investements.
Apart from many start-ups, established PV manufacturers have submitted proposals worth more than $1 billion. These include USL Photovoltaics, Tata BP Solar, Titan Energy Systems, KSK Energy Ventures, Solar Semiconductors and NeoTech Solutions India.
Ramamoorthy believes that Government incentives will continue to attract new players to India over the next five years as both these incentives and the target of having 10 percent of the country’s total power demand by 2012 provided through renewable energy sources will be strong drivers going forward.
