Vikram Solar on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up a battery energy storage systems (BESS) manufacturing facility at the SIPCOT Industrial Park at Gangaikondan in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu at an investment of ₹15,037 crore. The unit is expected to generate 2,670 jobs.
The facility, spread across nearly 600,000 square feet, is designed to eventually house module, cell, wafer and ingot production as part of the company’s push towards a fully vertically integrated manufacturing base. The battery storage plant extends that strategy into energy storage.
Vikram Solar already operates solar photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing facilities at Oragadam and Vallam in Tamil Nadu. The company has also set up an integrated manufacturing facility for solar PV cells and modules at Gangaikondan, according to an official release.
Vikram Solar’s subsidiary, VSL Powerhive, is separately developing a 5 GWh BESS manufacturing unit at Oragadam under a board-approved Phase 1 capital outlay of roughly Rs 4,371 crore, as part of a long-term plan for 30 GWh of combined battery cell, module and BESS capacity.
The MoU was signed between the industries, investment promotion and commerce department and Vikram Solar in the presence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat in Chennai.
The company’s stock rose 5.12% on Friday to close at Rs 203.30 apiece on BSE.