Asahi India Glass Ltd. Partners with Vishakha Group to Build Solar Glass Plant
Asahi India Glass Ltd. and Vishakha Group announced a joint venture into solar glass with an in principle agreement for the setting up of India’s largest, state-of-the-art green field solar glass plant in Mundra, in the state of Gujarat in India, with phase-1 glass manufacturing capacity of up to 3 gigawatts of the installable capacity of solar power plants.
Mr. Sanjay Labroo, managing director and CEO of Asahi India Glass Ltd., says, “Although a different market segment, solar glass is still an adjacent business to the existing businesses of AIS. We are delighted to partner with Vishakha group in their vision of creating the entire ecosystem and value chain for indigenizing solar energy generation in India.”
The plant is expected to be commissioned within 18-24 months. AIS will take a minority stake in the solar glass business. Vishakha Group is one of the largest manufacturers of flexible polymer packaging. It also has manufacturing facilities for other key components in the entire solar panel value chain, including solar backsheets, EVA encapsulant sheets and solar module aluminum frames.
As part of its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, India has now embarked on an ambitious target of generating 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030. This has led to a surge in demand for solar power in India, resulting in a huge demand for solar power equipment, panels and solar glass.
Mr. Jigish Doshi, chairman, Vishakha Group, says, “India has been one of the few nations that has accelerated its global commitment towards climate change and we intend to do our part to achieve the renewable energy target. The joint venture into solar glass manufacturing will support the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative of Government of India, contribute to achieving energy independence and lead to massive job creation in the Gujarat region. We are delighted to partner with AIS in this new journey. We plan to compliment the technical expertise and experience of AIS with synergies from our other businesses in the entire solar value chain.”
