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India's Tata Power to Divorce BP Solar

01.01.70

Tata said it will purchase the 51 percent BP had in their Tata BP Solar joint venture, which was formed in 1989 and makes silicon solar panels and offers solar system design services. Tata didn’t disclose the purchase price. The joint venture is among the top three solar cell and panel makers in India, according to GTM Research.

The deal gives Tata total control of an operation that could benefit from India’s emergence as a sizable solar market. India’s central government wants to see 20 gigawatts of grid-tied solar energy and 2 gigawatts of off-grid uses by 2022, and it launched an incentive program in January 2010 that has auctioned off projects. A few states in India also run solar incentive programs. All these efforts are recent, so whether India can hit its goals still remains a big question.

Although India promises to be a big market, most of the solar panels used in solar projects there have come from Chinese and U.S. manufacturers, such as First Solar and Suntech Power, said Tobias Engelmeier, managing director of Bridge to India, a consulting firm who recently completed a report on India for GTM Research.

Source: RenewableEnergyWorld.com