SEMI, the premier solar/photovoltaic
trade association,
has identified standards in
the Indian PV industry as a
key area of focus to help reduce
manufacturing cost. "We will
focus on working with all relevant
regional organisations in paving
the way for standards related to
the solar/PV manufacturing in
India," Sathya Prasad, President,
SEMI India, said.
Prasad was speaking at SOLARCON
India 2010, the second edition
of India's largest solar industry
event held in Hyderabad
recently. The event was inaugurated
by Union Minister for New
and Renewable Energy Dr.
Farooq Abdullah and presided
over by Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister K. Rosaiah.
More than 80 exhibitors and delegates
from over 30 countries participated
in the event organised
by SEMI. The conference saw visitors
across manufacturing, technology,
materials, sub-systems,
component and part manufacturing
segments, "reinforcing the
growth of the Indian industry and
actively discussing the implementation
of the government's
National Solar Missions."
Standards are a proven way of
reducing cost in manufacturing
process. The Global PV Standards
Committee in SEMI's International
Standards Programme is
already active in many areas of the
manufacturing supply chain
since 2007. It is important to align
standardisation efforts with other
standards' developing organisation
in order to accelerate cost
reduction efforts, improve quality
and get products to market faster.
"In module testing and certification,
testing houses need to
address the existing gaps and testing
protocol and processes and
develop clear mechanisms to
ensure quality and reduce safety
hazards. Cost reduction measures
and quality concerns have to be
addressed throughout the PV
value chain from feedstock and
starting materials all the way till
final installation." said Bettina
Weiss, Senior Director, Photovoltaic,
SEMI.
"The SEMI/PV Group mission is
to work towards generating 3 per
cent of global energy supply by
2020 through solar. SEMI will
work towards activities that would
help reduce the cost involved in
the production in the manufacturing
supply chain. Investments
can be pumped into R&D for
developing breakthrough innovations,"
Daniel D. Martin, Executive
Vice President, PV Group (a
special interest group within
SEMI), noted.
"India has a bright future in
solar, thermal and renewable
energy and the focus areas SEMI
would look into would be research
and development, and stable and
quality technology development,"
Martin added.
According to Stanley T. Myers,
President & CEO, SEMI, for
India, phase-I of the National
Solar Mission was extremely
important as it was now at the execution
level and significant
accomplishments made in this
phase would set the parameters of
phase-II of the NSM.
Talking about the role of FIT
(feed-in-tariffs) and its impact on
the PV market and its growth,
Sathya Prasad, President, SEMI
India, said that the scope of the
policy module in India would
drive the PV market in phase-I.
"An in-depth study based on a
survey of 25 countries' policies
has been conducted by SEMI.
This experience will help in
bringing out the most important
policy mechanism suitable to
India," he said. Stability, accessibility
and interconnectivity
between the energy developers to
the PV grid will also determine
the developments that would take
place in phase-I.