Indian solar PV manufacturer Waaree Energies has broken ground on its 10GW solar ingot and wafer manufacturing plant in Butibori, Nagpur, Maharashtra.
The plant, with a capacity of 10GW each for solar ingots and wafers, is spread across 300 acres. Waaree invested approximately INR62 billion (US$671 million) in the facility. Once operational the plant will generate over 8,000 local jobs.
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According to the firm, the facility aims to “strengthen India’s upstream solar manufacturing ecosystem” by “developing large-scale domestic capacity for critical components”. The plant will “reduce import dependence and enhance the resilience of the country’s solar supply chain.”
“Nagpur’s strategic location, strong industrial ecosystem, and connectivity across India make it an ideal destination for a project of this scale. As India progresses toward the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, building globally competitive clean energy manufacturing infrastructure will play a crucial role in establishing the country as a global hub for renewable energy technologies,” Hitesh Doshi, managing director, Waaree Energies said.
Recently, research analyst JMK Research in its Q4 2025 (Oct-Dec) India RE Update report noted that India’s upstream capacity remains limited at around 8.12GW of wafer-ingot manufacturing, with no domestic polysilicon production.
Waaree’s upstream ambitions
In recent years, Waaree has been expanding its footprint in the solar market. In its latest Q3 earnings call, the company outlined the next phase of its growth strategy.
CEO Amit Paithankar said Waaree’s earlier “Waaree 1.0” phase focused on module and cell manufacturing, while the company is now targeting the full solar value chain – from polysilicon, ingots and wafers to cells and modules – under what it has dubbed “Waaree 2.0”.
“We are investing across the energy transition ecosystem to build a fully integrated multi-energy global platform. Our expansion and investments into battery storage, inverters, transformers, power infrastructure, and electrolysers as a part of green energy ecosystems, we are building what we now call as Waaree 2.0,” Paithankar said.
Additionally, the JMK report highlighted that in the fourth quarter of 2025, Waaree increasing its module capacity by 3.6GW, taking its total domestic module capacity to 19.7GW in December 2025.
Mumbai-headquartered Waaree operates advanced manufacturing facilities with a total solar PV module capacity of 22.3GW globally and solar cell manufacturing capacity of up to 5.4GW.
Last year, the company commissioned a 5.4GW cell manufacturing facility in Gujarat. According to the firm, it is the largest cell manufacturing facility in India. The Chikli plant was commissioned in two phases, covering passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) and tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology.
