Indian solar manufacturer Premier Energies has commissioned a 7GW n-type tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) G12R solar cell manufacturing facility in Naidupeta, Andhra Pradesh, taking its total solar cell manufacturing capacity to 10.6GW.
The facility, spread across 101 acres, was developed with a capital expenditure of INR 32.93 billion (US$343.6 million). It has a production capacity of approximately 88,000 solar cells per hour.
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The company said the facility has entered trial production and is India’s largest solar cell manufacturing plant.
Chiranjeev Saluja, managing director, Premier Energies, said, “The timing of this 7GW capacity addition is therefore significant: as the line stabilises and ramps up, it gives us the scale to serve that demand with greater supply reliability and operating efficiency. Together with our planned backward integration into ingots and wafers, this strengthens our strategy of building a fully integrated and globally competitive solar manufacturing platform while supporting India’s clean energy transition.”
Premier Energies said the plant incorporates digital manufacturing systems and artificial intelligence-based tools for predictive performance analysis, process control and precision manufacturing. Automated material transport, packing and packaging systems have also been deployed to increase throughput and production consistency.
The 7GW facility is designed to support upgrades to next-generation TOPCon+ technologies, including poly-finger metallisation and advanced edge-isolation processes. Following stabilisation and ramp-up, Premier Energies is targeting average cell efficiencies of around 25.8%.
Sudhir Reddy, director and chief strategy officer, Premier Energies, added: “Naidupeta plant is a major step forward in our integrated manufacturing roadmap. The combination of scale, automation and advanced cell technology is designed to improve manufacturing competitiveness, strengthen supply-chain resilience and position Premier Energies to address demand for high-efficiency solar products in India and international markets.”
The plant also includes a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system designed to maximise water recycling and reuse.
The commissioning comes as Premier Energies expands its manufacturing footprint under a planned INR 125 billion investment programme over three years. Its module capacity has reached 11.1GW, with cell capacity now at 10.6GW.
The 200 acre-Naidupeta facility will also produce ingots and wafers as part of Premier Energies’ planned expansion into upstream manufacturing. At the time of the project’s announcement in July, Vinay Rustagi, chief business officer at Premier Energies, told PV Tech that production was scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2028.
Earlier this year, Premier commissioned a 5.6GW solar module manufacturing facility in Seetharampur, Telangana. The 75-acre facility can produce four G12R zero-busbar (0BB) TOPCon modules every 16 seconds, according to the company.
Premier has also launched India’s first 0BB TOPCon solar cell, moving beyond the 10BB and 16BB cell designs widely used in the industry.
In October 2025, Premier acquired a 51% stake in transformer manufacturer Transcon and inverter maker KSolare Energy, investing INR5 billion (US$57 million) in Transcon and INR1.7 billion (US$19 million) in KSolare alongside Syrma SGS Technology.
The company also commissioned a 1.2GW TOPCon solar cell manufacturing line at Fab City, Hyderabad, Telangana in June 2025. The line is designed to achieve cell efficiencies above 25% using a 16BB design.
