MSIPS and ‘Make in India’ to make way for RE

Giorgio Cellere, Product Management, Baccini Cell Systems, Applied Materials

Sustainable energy
The government has announced several initiatives to revive the power sector since the time it has come into power. Informing whether these initiatives started delivering or not Giorgio Cellere, Product Management, Baccini Cell Systems, Applied Materials states, “There has been a lot of focus on renewable energy in India. In fact, in the last couple of years, the thrust has been on renewable energy rather than on conventional energy. The leading players in India’s power sector are looking at diversifying their portfolios to include sustainable renewable energy.”

MSIPS and ‘Make in India’
“The Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (MSIPS) policy and the ‘Make in India’ initiatives I believe can both be game changers for all sectors, and especially for renewable power in India,” comments Cellere. He adds, “A few states have come up with a net-metering policy to promote rooftop solar, which encourages people to invest more in solar energy. It is also now mandatory for government buildings to have solar as a source of power and a few states have further mandated houses above a particular size to install and generate solar power. These initiatives will go a long way in enabling the adoption of solar power as an energy source.”

Rapid growth in consumer market
Briefing on the major changes observed during the past one year as far as improving the health of the industry is concerned Cellere says, “The consumer market is rapidly growing resulting in factories running at 100 per cent utilisation, which improves the health of the power industry. There is renewed interest and visibility for the industry among all stakeholders. Even at the central government level, there is a lot of positive focus on renewable energy and that is very heartening to see.”

Applied Materials performance and growth strategies
Highlighting the company’s performance during last year Cellere says, ‘In our solar business, we have seen very strong customer momentum and are gratified for their continuous trust in our technologies and products.”

He briefs, “Today, the Indian market is still dominated by modules manufactured abroad; but this is changing and we expect more cell and module production capacity to come online in India. We are supporting our customers with low cost of ownership tools and technologies that can be quickly ramped to high-volume manufacturing, without compromising on cell performance or reliability.” The company is also building local infrastructure to more fully support its solar customers and help accelerate the market in India.