Navitas Solar T&D India Magazine With Interview Of Mr. Sunay Shah

1. Let us start by understanding, in brief, the various services offered by Navitas Solar. Specifically, do you undertake only rooftop solar or do you deal in ground-mounted solar as well?

Navitas Solar strives to provide one of the best solutions for sustainable solar electric power with one of the most advanced production lines in India having manufacturing capacity of 1.7 GW p.a. Moreover, we have our own EVA manufacturing plant as a backward integration in the same facility. We are already among the top 10 leading module manufacturers. Navitas Solar has served 1000+ customers across India for various government, semi-government and private projects. We are happy to share that we are a Carbon Neutral Organization. We offer products like polycrystalline, Mono PERC and now TOPCon modules from 5 to 720 watts per panel. We offer Solar EPC services with the execution ride proper from the minimal Solar PV capability of 5 kW to Megawatt scale rooftop as well as ground-mounted solar projects. Having its EPC crew in Gujarat and Maharashtra, Navitas Solar is actively engaged with the Residential, commercial and industrial projects, be it ground mount or rooftop! We have dedicated and separate teams for rooftop and ground-mount projects, as both the segments are different.

2. What is your view on India’s efforts to build domestic capacity for solar modules? How is the government’s ALMM programme shaping up?

India has achieved tremendous growth in forward integration of solar energy. Now, talking about developing backward integration to manufacturing solar wafer/cells, we see now many domestic players are entering into this market. We see many domestic players are entering in the solar market not just in wafers/cells but also in solar encapsulants, glasses, junction boxes, ribbons, frames. We are sure we will use all the products related to solar, big or small manufactured in India in upcoming time. With that, we will be fulfilling the motive of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” in a true sense.

3. What is your view on India’s capabilities with respect to developing backward integration to manufacturing solar wafers/cells?

Different states in India are having different net & gross metering policies state wise. Nationally government applies a common policy and then policies are modified and implemented as per the state’s requirements by the state government. Some of the states are becoming very aggressive in installing solar by implementing user-friendly solar policies like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh etc. Having different policies in different states sometimes becomes too difficult to understand and track for the developers but at the same time it is essentially required by that particular state’s geography and other resources.

4. Currently, what is your total portfolio of solar projects commissioned and under-execution?

We have installed 20 MW of Solar EPC projects until now at pan India level. To point out few major projects of EPC services, 402 kW Solar plant at JFE Shoji Steel India Ltd., Maharashtra, 4 MW in-house Captive Solar Park at Kalpataru Global Alloys, Andhra Pradesh , 1.4 MW at Sumicot Ltd. Bharuch and many more. With this Navitas has left a terrific mark with putting a degree up in optimum designs, quality assurance and best economic solutions to the client. We want to focus on large-scale supply and retail EPC segments up to 10 MW single projects for which there is niche market.

5. What is your view on the Prime Minister’s newly announced scheme envisaging 1 crore solar rooftops, mainly in the residential sector?

‘Pradhanmatri Suryoday Yojana’ is announced under which 1 cr of rooftop solar will be installed at homes is a terrific and bold move to increase penetration of rooftop solar in the residential sector in India. At, Navitas Solar, we thank and appreciate Indian Government for this strong step which will not only reduce just the electricity bills of the consumers nut will also make India SELF-RELIANT. The scheme will attract Green investments up to 12500 Crs, expand solar capacity up to 30 GW+, Create more jobs and will boost local manufacturing industries of solar products.

6. What are the main challenges affecting rooftop solar progress in India? What policy recommendations to you advocate towards this?

Delayed subsidy disbursal, state wise dynamic policies, lack of awareness in public, dynamic policies of central government for import-exports are some of the roadblocks in the pathway of rooftop solar’s progress in India. If India wants to become a global PV leader, then in each area, we need to improve as a nation. Residential sector has a huge potential to grow in future. When we talk about rooftop solar installation, it is perceived only as C&I as the residential rooftop solar has very small percentage amongst the total rooftop solar installation in India. The recent policy changes in Rooftop Solar including various subsidy announcements will certainly encourage this sector’s growth. Apart from that, consumer awareness has also helped to grow the residential rooftop solar market. Nowadays, people of tier 2 and 3 cities are also having knowledge about rooftop solar and they have started installing solar.

7. Given that India’s renewable energy ambitions are sharply focused on solar energy, how do you see the road ahead for Navitas Solar? What would be your main business growth drivers?

India’s goal is to achieve 500 GW of renewable energy installed by 2030 from which 50% would be about solar energy. Looking at this, the road head for Navitas Solar seems to be the brightest in upcoming years. As in any of the solar projects, important cost is of Solar Modules and we are one of the leading module manufacturing company in India since last 11 years. As we have our own solar module manufacturing facility, it becomes an added advantage for our solar EPC customers as they have the same vendor both for EPC and for Panels. Some of the driving factors in our main business are High ROI, Favorable Government Policies, Increase in Grid tariffs, Cheaper and environment friendly solution, Increase in per capita income and per capita electricity consumption.