SAEL to Invest $954 Million in Solar Manufacturing Plant
In the northern province of Uttar Pradesh, the Indian renewable energy business SAEL Industries Ltd. plans to invest 82 billion rupees ($954.04 million) to construct a 5-gigawatt (GW) integrated solar cell and module manufacturing facility annually.
The Greater Noida factory will increase SAEL's overall module manufacturing capacity to 8.5 GW, representing one of the biggest investments in India's solar manufacturing industry to date.
It is anticipated that construction will start this year.
The action supports India's efforts to localize the production of solar energy.
Government projects will only be permitted to use locally produced solar cells from authorized producers starting in June 2026.
The majority of India's modules are imported from China, and the country can now produce 80 GW of modules but only 15 GW of cells.
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With the help of operating and building projects, SAEL has assets that can produce more than 6.7 GW of solar power, with the goal of increasing that to 10 GW in three years. The business has already raised over $2.4 billion in debt and equity, and in 2024, it issued a $305 million green bond.
Awla stated that the company also intends to submit an IPO application this year, but she would not elaborate on the specifics of the IPO's size or timeframe.
In fiscal 2025, SAEL's revenue from its independent power production and biomass businesses almost doubled to 6.87 billion rupees from fiscal 2023. By fiscal year 2027, the corporation wants to increase its revenue from these ventures to 30.94 billion rupees.
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A 300 MW solar power project in Andhra Pradesh was previously developed by SAEL Solar MHP1 with debt finance of $132 million. Three international financial institutions contributed $44 million to the project: Societe Generale, New Development Bank (NDB), and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Through a competitive auction held by the Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI), SAEL was able to secure the project. The money will help with the solar plant's construction and operation.
SAEL is a renewable energy firm that specializes in manufacturing, operations and maintenance (O&M), and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC).
Apart from solar energy, SAEL also runs an agri-waste-to-energy company that uses eleven plants in Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan to process around 2 million tons of agricultural residue yearly.