Waaree launches ‘India’s largest solar cell facility’ in Gujarat
Waaree Energies’ 5.4 GW factory in Chikhli, Gujarat, is spread across 150 acres with a built-up area of 101 acres. The Indian company has already invested USD 350 million in the campus at the Chikhli unit.
Indian renewable energy firm Waaree Energies has announced the launch of the country’s “largest solar cell manufacturing gigafactory” with a capacity of 5.4 GW, in Chikhli, Gujarat.
The Chikhli factory is spread across 150 acres with a built-up area of 101 acres.
“This is our first solar cell project which will have a capacity of 5.4 GW. This unit has the capacity to churn out 20 solar cells every second. We are using the latest and advanced TOPCon [Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact] technology,” Hitesh Doshi, chairman and managing director of Waaree Energies, told businessline.
The unique structure of TOPCon solar cells utilises a thin oxide layer and a poly-crystalline silicon layer to create a highly efficient passivated contact, the businessline report says. This design improves charge carrier extraction, leading to higher energy conversion rates. Higher efficiency, in turn, results in more power generation from the same surface area of solar panels.
Mumbai-headquartered Waaree Energies owns and operates manufacturing facilities with an installed capacity of 15 GW for solar PV modules globally, including a 1.3 GW facility in Noida, India, operated by its subsidiary Indosolar, and a 1.6 GW facility in Texas, US.
The company has already invested ₹30 billion (about USD 350 million) in the campus at the Chikhli manufacturing unit. Waaree is also building a 6 GW wafer-to-module manufacturing unit in Odisha with an investment of ₹90 billion (about USD 1.05 billion).
