PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

BHEL plans to double production and gets cell order from Italy

Two months after finalizing a contract worth 60 million INR ($1.3 million), the Bangalore, India-based electronics division of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) announced on July 12 that it would deliver 500 kW of cells to Italian PV module manufacturer S.E. Project.

	© BHEL – Electronics Division, Technical Information Centre
Island electrification: BHEL calls the 105 kW mini-grid system installed on West Bengal's Mousuni Island in 2003 the largest stand-alone installation in India.

According to Ashok Ramakrishna, head of BHEL's semiconductor and photovoltaic division, delivery of the 125 mm pseudo-square monocrystalline cells will be made by the end of the year.
BHEL produced 1.5 MW of cells at its 2 MW capacity factory in 2003, an amount Ramakrishna wants to double in 2004. He declined to give any details. Plans call for the 2003 production of 1.2 MW of modules, sized up to 150 W, to be increased to 2.5 MW in 2004.

Some of these will be used for an order from the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA) for island electrification for five stand-alone PV installations equal to 400 kW by June 2005. BHEL already has installed nearly 1.5 MW of PV mini-grids on four islands, including a 105 kW system on Mousuni Island, which BHEL claims is the largest stand-alone system in India (see PI 7/2002, p. 20). WBREDA, which paid 35 million INR ($763,000) for the 105 kW system, wants to electrify 2,000 remote villages by 2007. The agency already has installed 3 MW of PV and is planning an additional 2 MW.