Vikram Solar shifted expansion focus to Tamil Nadu, Bengal unit to see limited growth

Kolkata, August 20 (PTI) -based solar panel maker Vikram Solar Ltd will see most of its upcoming capacity expansion to Tamil Nadu, even if the company is an aggressive driveway to 17.5 GW solar modules and 12 GW solar by FY27, officials said. At the moment, the company operates 4.5 GW module capacity – with its largest 3.5 GW plant at Falta Sez in Western Bengals and 1.3 GW at Oragadam near Chennai. However, most of new projects will now appear at Vallam and Gangaikondan in Tamil Nadu, including a large integrated solar and module facility that involves significant capital expenditure. In the Western Bengals, Vikram Solar will invest £ 400 crore to add 2 GW modules to its Falta unit, taking its total capacity up to 5.5 GW. “Through FY27, we want to increase capacity to 17.5 GW modules and backward integration for a capacity of 12 GW cells,” CMD Gyanesh Chaudhary said. In the first phase, the expansion – consisting of 6 GW modules and 3 GW cell manufacturing – is funded by a mixture of IPO yields, debt and incentives. Tamil Nadu will extend about £ 900 crore in subsidies to the company over the life cycle of the new projects. Meanwhile, Vikram Solar’s £ 2,079.4 Crore IPO, which opened on August 19 and closed on August 21, has already been transferred 4.4 times. The company gained £ 620.81 of 43 institutional investors via the anchor book on August 18. The edition consists of a new edition of £ 1,500 crore and an offer for sale by promoters. After the problem, the promoter stake will drop from 77.6 percent to 63.1 percent. In addition, Vikram Solar acquired £ 1,700 crore debt financing from IREDA, while PLI incentives of £ 528 crore and Tamil Nadu of £ 900 crore will support the projects. Founded in 2006, Vikram Solar is one of India’s largest solar module manufacturers and is now looking for a fully integrated solar ecosystem with backward links in cell manufacturing.