Moser Baer plans to invest $1.5 bn in thin film unit

New Delhi: Optical storage disc maker Moser Baer India Ltd has announced an investment of $1.5 billion to set up a thin film photovoltaic capacity plant.

PV Technologies India Ltd, the wholly owned subsidiary of Moser Baer India, signed an agreement with a global equipment supplier to source critical equipment for a 565-MW phased expansion. This would take the company’s current capacity to 600 MW from 40 MW by 2010.

“We see an increasingly significant role for thin film technologies in meeting peaking power requirement and now aim to be a significant player in this arena,” said Mr Ravi Khanna, CEO, PV.

The company had earlier acquired stake in the Slovenian company Solarvalue Proizvodnja to get access to polysilicon, the raw material used in manufacturing silicon wafers.

The thin film solar modules widely used for energy farms, rural applications and building photovoltaic markets would witness demand in multiple applications, with the industry expected to grow ten folds, the company said.

As per industry estimates, the market will expand from the current 250 MW to 2 GW to a size of $5 billion by 2010.