First Solar to develop Indian solar farms

US solar giant First Solar is drawing out plans to develop solar farms in India as repeated power outages spur on demand for solar power.

Citing Sujoy Ghosh, the new India manager at First Solar, revealed that the solar behemoth is targeting a 20% share of India’s PV sales by becoming more than just a supplier. Demand is expected to come from industrial and commercial businesses.

The company is expected to be involved in building, arranging finance and supplying modules.

Ghosh said, “As that self-generation market opens up in a country like India with an 18 percent deficit, it would create a natural need for investing into a manufacturing facility here to serve needs of the market locally. Once we turn on the switch, we don’t want to turn it off.”

India is aiming to become a PV powerhouse. In January 2010, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM)’s target of 20GW of installed solar capacity by 2022 was approved. But insufficient funding and planning means that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting smaller and smaller.