US-based Astonfield is betting big on the Indian solar market as the government starts work to implement the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).
The company has planned to develop 1,200 mw solar power generation capacity by 2017 with an estimated investment of over $ 1 billion, says a top company executive..
India has planned to develop 20,000 mw grid-connected solar power generation capacity in three phases by 2022. Under the first phase, 1,000 mw capacity is to be added by March 2013, half of which will be based on solar PV equipment and the rest on solar thermal technology.
Solar PV equipment is Astonfield?s choice for developing projects in India as the company does not want to experiment with solar thermal technology which is yet to be commercially proven.
?The company will use solar PV equipment, which is a commercially proven and tested technology Besides, solar PV equipment based generation capacity can be added at a faster pace,?says Sourabh Sen, co-chairman, Astonfield.
The company has bagged allocation of a 5 mw solar power project in Rajasthan under the migration scheme of the first phase. ?We are not going for R&D or pilot projects,? Sen said.
Astonfield has tied up with Germany-based Beck Energy for execution, procurement and commissioning (EPC) services for implementing solar power projects in India. EPC is a specialised area in solar power project development. The Germany-based company has installed over 1,000 mw solar generation capacity.