Birla Surya to invest Rs 5,400 crore in solar power unit

Mumbai : Birla Surya Limited, a part of the Yash Birla Group , plans to invest Rs 5,400 crore, over the next five years, to set up an integrated unit for fabrication of multi-crystalline silicon wafers and manufacturing solar photovoltaic cells.

The company would invest Rs 1,493 crore in the first phase that would entail setting up of a manufacturing unit with 60 megawatt capacity for multi crystalline silicon wafers and a fabrication unit of capacity 125 mw, the company said in a meeting on Thursday.

Chairman Yash Birla said that the decision to foray into solar power was driven by the opportunity arising from the government's National Solar Mission which aims at capacity of 20 gigawatts by 2022.It has also raised around 68 crore of private equity investment by selling 15% stake in Birla Surya to Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific Capital. The unit which is being set up in the Satara district would start commercial production by December 2011.

"The crystalline silicon wafers account for almost 60% of cost of the photovoltaic cells. Having an integrated unit would give us the price advantage," said Chief Technology Officer Amitava Banerjee.