Navitas Solar Announces Rs. 1,500 Crore Integrated Manufacturing Expansion in Gujarat with 3.6 GW Cell Line and Pilot Wafer & Ingot Line

• Expansion marks Navitas Solar’s strategic move towards deeper backward integration across the solar manufacturing value chain.
• Aligned with ALMM List-II implementation, the project strengthens domestic value addition and supports India's solar manufacturing ambitions.

Navitas Solar, one of India's leading solar manufacturers, today announced a proposed investment of approximately INR 1,500 crore towards an integrated manufacturing expansion in Gujarat. The project includes a 3.6 GW high-efficiency solar cell manufacturing facility and a pilot wafer & ingot line, marking a significant step in the company's strategy to deepen backward integration and strengthen India's domestic solar manufacturing ecosystem.

The proposed expansion is designed to enhance domestic value addition, reduce long-term dependence on imported components and support India’s broader clean energy and manufacturing ambitions. The project will be developed in phases, with Phase I targeted for commissioning in 2027 and subsequent capacity additions planned thereafter, subject to market conditions and project readiness.

As part of the project, civil work covering over 10 lakh sq. ft. is currently underway. Navitas Solar has put in place the required technology tie-up for the planned manufacturing line and appointed senior leadership to spearhead the new business vertical. The company is further strengthening its project execution, manufacturing, technology and quality functions with experienced talent to support the successful implementation of the expansion and its long-term growth plans.

The cell manufacturing facility is being designed as a highly automated and future-ready production platform capable of supporting next-generation solar technologies. The manufacturing line will be developed with upgradeability and flexibility to adapt to evolving technology pathways, including potential transitions to advanced cell architectures, subject to market and technology readiness.

Along with this investment, a strategic pilot wafer & ingot line is planned in 2027 as a part of its long-term roadmap for deeper backward integration. The initiative is expected to strengthen internal capabilities, enhance technology understanding and support future localization requirements across the solar value chain.

Commenting on the development, Mr. Vineet Mittal, Director Finance & Strategy, Navitas Solar, said, “India’s clean energy transition requires strong domestic manufacturing capabilities across the entire solar value chain. Our planned integrated manufacturing expansion in Gujarat is a strategic step towards building a future-ready platform across modules, cells and deeper backward integration. With civil work underway, technology partnership in place, key government approvals secured and senior leadership appointed to drive the project, we are progressing with a clear focus on execution, quality, innovation and long-term competitiveness. This expansion reflects our commitment to strengthening India's manufacturing ecosystem, enhancing supply-chain resilience and supporting the country's vision of becoming a global clean energy manufacturing hub."

The expansion comes at a pivotal time for India’s solar sector, following the Government’s implementation of the ALMM List-II framework for solar PV cells. As domestic module manufacturing capacity continues to expand, the availability of approved domestic solar cells is becoming a critical factor for project planning, supply-chain security and long-term competitiveness. Navitas Solar’s proposed 3.6 GW cell facility is aligned with this national policy direction and is expected to support the industry’s transition towards higher domestic value addition, reduced import dependence and stronger clean energy self-reliance.

The project is expected to generate nearly 1,000 employment opportunities across manufacturing, engineering, operations, project execution, quality assurance and research functions, while also creating significant indirect employment across logistics, ancillary industries and supporting services. Navitas Solar currently has an annual solar module manufacturing capacity of 3 GW and offers a comprehensive portfolio of Mono PERC and high-efficiency TOPCon modules ranging from 40W to 720W. The company also has upstream integration through its subsidiary, Navitas Alpha Renewables Pvt. Ltd., which manufactures solar encapsulants, further strengthening the group’s position across the solar manufacturing ecosystem.

With this planned Rs. 1,500 crore investment, Navitas Solar is taking a significant step towards becoming a more integrated, technology-driven and future-ready solar manufacturer, reinforcing its long-term commitment to innovation, self-reliance and India’s clean energy future.

About Navitas Solar

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Surat, Gujarat, Navitas Solar is one of India’s leading solar module manufacturers with an annual manufacturing capacity of 3 GW. The company specializes in Mono PERC and high-efficiency TOPCon solar modules ranging from 40W to 720W. Navitas Solar is among the few solar manufacturing companies in India with backward and forward integration capabilities through its subsidiary, Navitas Alpha Renewables Pvt. Ltd., which manufactures solar encapsulants, and offers EPC services through its subsidiary Navitas Planet Pvt. Ltd.

The company is committed to delivering high-quality, technologically advanced solar solutions that contribute to India’s clean energy transition and sustainable growth. To know more, visit https://navitassolar.com/

Waree Energies Opens India's Largest Solar Cell Manufacturing Gigafactory

Waaree Energies has made a remarkable achievement by inaugurating India's largest solar cell manufacturing gigafactory in Chikhali, Gujarat.

This state-of-the-art facility boasts a capacity of 5.4 GW and spans 150 acres, with a built-up area of 101 acres. Equipped with advanced technologies like TOPCon and Mono PERC solar cells, the gigafactory aims to achieve efficiencies of up to 25%.

The facility is expected to create over 9,500 direct jobs and approximately 30,000 indirect employment opportunities, contributing significantly to India's clean energy goals and economic growth. It aligns with the "Atmanirbhar Bharat" initiative, reducing dependency on imports and positioning India as a global manufacturing hub for renewable energy technologies.

This milestone reflects India's growing prowess in the global renewable energy landscape.

Waaree Energies is a prominent player in India's renewable energy sector. Established in 1990 and headquartered in Mumbai, it is the country's largest manufacturer of solar PV modules, with an impressive installed capacity of 13.3 GW as of 2024. The company has a strong presence both domestically and internationally, with manufacturing facilities in India and the USA.

The new 5.4 GW solar cell gigafactory in Chikhali, Gujarat, is a significant addition to the global solar manufacturing landscape. While it is the largest in India, globally, there are even larger facilities. For instance, China's Longi Green Energy operates a solar manufacturing facility with a capacity exceeding 20 GW, making it one of the largest in the world. Similarly, other major players like JinkoSolar and Trina Solar also have massive production capacities.

However, India's facility stands out for its focus on reducing import dependency and aligning with the "Atmanirbhar Bharat" initiative. It also contributes significantly to employment and technological innovation in the renewable energy sector. This positions India as a growing force in the global clean energy market.

Tata Power Starts Production of Solar Cell at India's Largest Single-location 4.3 GW Solar Cell & Module Manufacturing Plant in Tirunelveli

• Facility set to boost domestic manufacturing of Cell and Module and thereby aid India's solar energy and net-zero goals
• State-of-the-art facility equipped with advanced TOPCon and Mono Perc technology to enhance solar cell efficiency

TP Solar Ltd., one of India's largest cell and module manufacturing companies and a subsidiary of Tata Power Renewable Energy Ltd. (TPREL), today proudly announced the commencement of commercial production from the 2GW solar cell line at its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu — the country’s largest single-location solar cell & module plant. This milestone follows the successful production of solar modules earlier this year.

A woman employee is working at the state-of-the-art cell production line at Tata Power's Solar Cell and Module Manufacturing Plant

The indigenous production of solar cells marks a significant milestone, supporting India’s ambitious clean energy goals and reducing reliance on imports. The solar cell production, currently at 2 GW capacity will enhance Tata Power's ability to meet the growing demand for high-quality, and domestically produced solar components, especially for large-scale capacity-addition projects. The plant is expected to ramp up production with the remaining 2 GW capacity to be added over the next 4-6 weeks, reaching peak production within the next few months.

Having a total cell & module manufacturing capacity of 4.3 GW, the module production line at the Tirunelveli plant was commissioned in October 2023 and has produced 1250 MW of solar modules till date.

Expressing his excitement for India's renewable energy future, Dr. Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD, Tata Power, said, “The commencement of cell production at our Tirunelveli plant is a significant step towards indigenisation in the solar value chain and achieving self-sufficiency. We are committed to making solar power accessible to all and ensuring a bright future for India, powered by renewable energy. We believe that this plant will lead the way in supporting the country's vision for a Net-Zero carbon future."

The facility is equipped with advanced TOPCon and Mono Perc technology, enabling high-efficiency production of solar cells and modules. TPREL’s investment in this cutting-edge technology aligns with its vision of fostering innovation and self-reliance in the renewable energy sector.

The company has committed nearly ₹4300 crore towards the establishment of this facility. It is a cornerstone of Tata Power's strategy to lead India's renewable energy transition, particularly in the solar rooftop and utility-scale segments, where it holds a 20% market share and aims for further expansion under programs like PM Surya Ghar Yojana. While the modules produced from this factory are a part of the Government's Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM), the company is confident that its high-quality cells will also make it to the ALMM list for cells, expected to be announced by the Government soon.

The solar cells and modules produced at the Tamil Nadu facility will initially cater to the company's ongoing projects, further strengthening its supply chain. With an eye on future expansion, Tata Power also plans to explore opportunities for wider market distribution.

In addition to the Tirunelveli plant, the company also operates a world-class manufacturing facility established in 1992 in Bengaluru, Karnataka. This facility, equipped with cutting-edge technology, has a production capacity of 682 MW for solar modules and 530 MW for solar cells. To date, it has supplied a total of 3.73 GW of solar modules and 2.26 GW of solar cells.

As a pioneer in the energy sector, Tata Power is playing an important role in building a sustainable and self-reliant India. The company's commitment to expanding its clean and green energy capacity is evident in its ambitious targets. Tata Power aims to increase its renewable energy portfolio from 41% to 70% by 2030, positioning itself as a key player in the global energy transition.

Scientists at IIT Hyderabad Develops Solar Cells using 'Kumkum Dye' for Low-cost, Eco-Friendly Options

Scientists at IIT Hyderabad have developed low-cost, environment-friendly solar cells by employing an off-the-shelf dye used to make kumkum or vermilion in India.

The dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC) is based on New Fuchsin (NF) dye with aqueous electrolyte and platinum-free counter electrodes, according to the research published in the Solar Energy journal.

The most familiar solar cells today are made up of silicon and can be seen in the various overhead panels and other places, noted Professor Sai Santosh Kumar Raavi from Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad.

However, this technology is limited by huge fabrication costs as silicon processing is very expensive and involves very high temperature methods that leave a large carbon footprint, Raavi, who led the project, told PTI.

In order to get around the limitations of using silicon, the IIT Hyderabad team started working on solar cells based on organic materials, which were supposedly inexpensive and easy to fabricate.

However, there were many drawbacks impeding the organic photovoltaic technology as organics (plastic) are less robust. Many dye molecules developed for efficient DSSC devices are very expensive and toxic upon ingestion.

Also, most DSSC devices tend to get degraded as they come in contact with atmospheric moisture, Raavi said.

Since 2010, lot of efforts have been made to use water-soluble natural and synthetic dyes to make water-based solar cells.

In their latest work, Raavi's team consisting of researchers from Department of Physics and Chemistry (IIT Hyderabad), ARCHEM (University of Hyderabad) NIT Kurukshetra and IFSC-USP, Brazil, employed a very cheap magenta-dye called New Fuchsin, which is used to make kumkum or vermillion when grounded with turmeric.

"It's cheap, non-toxic and is soluble in water and importantly does not degrade in the presence of water,” Raavi said.

How Dye-Sensitised Solar Cell Works

Dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC) is a third-generation thin-film organic molecule-based energy conversion device. "DSSC takes its inspiration from nature, almost mimicking the primary process of photosynthesis the phenomenon in plants," Raavi explained.

DSSC consists of three components: A monolayer of dye molecule adsorbed on semiconductor material, titanium dioxide (TiO2) deposited on transparent conductive oxides, like indium tin oxide (ITO) and a liquid electrolyte with an excess of electrons.

Sunlight is absorbed by the dye molecule and gets excited. The electrons from the excited dye molecule get injected into the conduction band of TiO2.

"The electrons are transported to the charge collector. The dye cation (after losing its electron) takes an electron from the surrounding electron-rich liquid electrolyte. The counter electrode, typically, is platinum-coated ITO," Raavi said.

DSSCs, Raavi noted, are generally considered eco-friendlier to produce than conventional solar cells because they require little energy to manufacture.

The best performing DSSCs use organic solvent-based liquid electrolytes. These liquid-electrolytes come with various drawbacks such as high vapour pressure, toxicity and sometimes explosives resulting in severe environmental impact in addition to being corrosive to the platinum counter-electrodes, thereby limiting long-time stability of the devices.

"In spite of extensive search for various alternatives, to address the fore-mentioned issues, one of the most important aspects still unresolved in the DSSC community is the contamination of standard aprotic DSSC systems by means of moisture or water," Raavi said. "In this scenario, focus on dye-sensitised solar cells which are inherently in the aqueous medium have taken precedence," he said.

"In view of being cost-effective and stable in the aqueous environment, an ideal DSSC should consist of inexpensive sensitiser, water-based non-toxic electrolytes, and platinum-free counter electrode, giving the true definition of 'green' photovoltaic device," said Raavi.

The best device, he said, showed a photoconversion efficiency of about three per cent which is among the best obtained with DSSC with other natural photosensitisers with a simple molecular structure. This technology using NF dye, researchers said, could be used to build integrating photovoltaics.

NF is an inexpensive dye available off-shelf in most supermarkets in India, and in its purest form costs USD two per gramme.

By the choice of cell components during the fabrication, a low-cost eco-friendly DSSC based on NF dye with aqueous electrolyte and platinum-free counter electrodes is achieved, Raavi said.

"The idea of this work is not to run behind the best efficiency. Sometimes, the cost for achieving the highest efficient device overwhelms the actual motivation behind developing a particular class of solar cell technology- which is to be eco-friendly and inexpensive," he added. PTI

Solar panels 100 times thinner than a human hair could power wearable technology revolution

Saving the Earth's remaining resources is the need of the hour. With the population of the world growing at an unprecedented rate, their resources need is going to escalate at an even faster rate. Therefore, we all being the citizens of the Earth need to pitch in and do our bit. Solar energy is a positive step in that very direction. But, many of the commoners fret from going the solar way because of the huge spaces that the solar panels need, which many of the modern city homes lack. A team of researchers in South Korea have tried to solve this very problem.

The researchers have developed solar panels that are so thin and flexible in nature that they can be easily wrapped around the frame of a pair of glasses. According to industry experts, the invention could be a major breakthrough in the field of wearable electronics.

The panel are just a single micrometre across, which means they are much-much thinner than a coat of paint or the average human hair, both of which are usually about 100 micrometres thick. Further, when compared to the existing solar panels in the market, these South Korean invention are about 100 times thinner than the standard solar panels size and 3-4 times thinner than the slimmest of the solar cells available currently available in the market.

According to a statement given by Professor Jongho Lee, an engineer at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology and one of the researchers actively involved in the invention, their solar panels are comparatively much less fragile under bending, and perform almost similarly or slightly better to the panels 3.5 micrometres across.



In order to make these super thin and super flexible solar panels a reality, the scientists made use of a new material that was so flexible that it could easily wrap itself around a pencil. Further, during tests, they also discovered that they could still function when they're wrapped around something which is just 1.4mm wide.

According to initial reactions from the industry, these super thin and flexible solar panels could be incorporated into clothing in order to power wearable technology or even used to provide power for smart glasses.

As per the journal published, the scientists revealed that they made use of a semiconductor, gallium arsenide to make these ultra-thin solar cells see the day of light. According to an article that they published in the journal Applied Physics Letters, their road to the discovery was laced with difficulties. One such instance was when they had to figure out a way to make the material super flexible. In order to make the material flexible, they wanted to avoid using an adhesive as that would add to the material's thickness. This is when they decided to cold-weld the cells to an electrode.

According to Professor Lee, he and his team are quite hopeful that using their method of transfer printing, highly flexible photo-voltaic cells can be made possible using a much lesser amount of materials.

Solar panels 100 times thinner than a human hair could power wearable technology revolution

Saving the Earth's remaining resources is the need of the hour. With the population of the world growing at an unprecedented rate, their resources need is going to escalate at an even faster rate. Therefore, we all being the citizens of the Earth need to pitch in and do our bit. Solar energy is a positive step in that very direction. But, many of the commoners fret from going the solar way because of the huge spaces that the solar panels need, which many of the modern city homes lack. A team of researchers in South Korea have tried to solve this very problem.

The researchers have developed solar panels that are so thin and flexible in nature that they can be easily wrapped around the frame of a pair of glasses. According to industry experts, the invention could be a major breakthrough in the field of wearable electronics.

The panel are just a single micrometre across, which means they are much-much thinner than a coat of paint or the average human hair, both of which are usually about 100 micrometres thick. Further, when compared to the existing solar panels in the market, these South Korean invention are about 100 times thinner than the standard solar panels size and 3-4 times thinner than the slimmest of the solar cells available currently available in the market.

According to a statement given by Professor Jongho Lee, an engineer at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology and one of the researchers actively involved in the invention, their solar panels are comparatively much less fragile under bending, and perform almost similarly or slightly better to the panels 3.5 micrometres across.



In order to make these super thin and super flexible solar panels a reality, the scientists made use of a new material that was so flexible that it could easily wrap itself around a pencil. Further, during tests, they also discovered that they could still function when they're wrapped around something which is just 1.4mm wide.

According to initial reactions from the industry, these super thin and flexible solar panels could be incorporated into clothing in order to power wearable technology or even used to provide power for smart glasses.

As per the journal published, the scientists revealed that they made use of a semiconductor, gallium arsenide to make these ultra-thin solar cells see the day of light. According to an article that they published in the journal Applied Physics Letters, their road to the discovery was laced with difficulties. One such instance was when they had to figure out a way to make the material super flexible. In order to make the material flexible, they wanted to avoid using an adhesive as that would add to the material's thickness. This is when they decided to cold-weld the cells to an electrode.

According to Professor Lee, he and his team are quite hopeful that using their method of transfer printing, highly flexible photo-voltaic cells can be made possible using a much lesser amount of materials.