Reinforcing its position as India's leading gas technology supplier to the
photovoltaic (PV) industry, BOC India (BOCI), a member of The Linde Group, has won four new
long-term gas supply deals with large PV manufacturers, Moser Baer, Euro
Multivision, Solar Semiconductor and Indo Solar (formally Phoenix Solar).
Gases are critical to the production of solar cells, and can account for up
to 20 percent of the total cost of thin-film silicon manufacturing. These
significant deals for BOCI come at a time when India readies to unveil its first
solar power target, pledging to boost output from near zero to 20 Giga Watts
(GW) by 2020, as it firms up its national plan to fight global warming through
the development of alternative energy sources and reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions.
"As India plans its solar energy production targets, BOCI is committed to the
common goal of bringing the cost of solar electricity to grid parity for mass
adoption, by reducing cost per watt of solar cell production," said Srikumar
Menon, Managing Director, BOC India. "Our relationships with this growing list
of leading Indian manufacturers are testament to the value of our investment in
establishing world class execution capability to serve this rapidly growing and
technically demanding industry."
For Moser Baer's first PV production unit in Greater Noida, India, BOCI has
created one of the largest supply schemes for industrial gases for electronics
manufacturing throughout South and East Asia. In addition to the on-site
manufacturing of critical gases, BOCI's partnership with Moser Baer includes a
focus on employing technology solutions to optimise gas usage as well as India's
first on site Total Gas Management (TGM) service.
For Indo Solar's first crystalline silicon PV cells manufacturing plant in
India, and also in Greater Noida, BOCI has been selected as its exclusive
supplier of bulk nitrogen (N2), silane (SiH4) and other specialty gases. BOCI
will provide a full TGM service and also install the distribution and monitoring
systems required for safe and reliable supply of these specialty gases to the
manufacturing facility. In Phase One, Indo Solar will have an annual cell
capacity of 160MW, which will ramp up by an additional 200MW in Phase Two
(anticipated completion by end of 2009).
In Fab City Hyderabad, BOCI has been selected to pioneer the development of
gas supply infrastructure in conjunction with the first large PV investment.
Solar Semiconductor's new crystalline silicon cell plant in Fab City has an
initial capacity of 30 MW and plans to ramp up to 120MW by 2010. BOCI also plans
to further expand its gas and chemical infrastructure in Fab City Hyderabad to
support future investments.
Finally, in Gujarat BOCI is working with Euro Multivision Limited on the bulk
and special gas supply to their new 40MW crystalline cell manufacturing facility
in Kutch.
In India, solar manufacturing clusters are mainly in the north (Delhi and
Noida) and the south (Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai).