"Currently, solar photovoltaic projects cost around
15 to 18 crore per megawatt. The manner in which solar PV technology is improving, the cost of solar PV projects per megawatt should come down to 8 to 10 crore per megawatt within the next five to 10 years," Deepak Gadhia, Principal & Chief Mentor, Green Force Enviro Pvt. Ltd, told Projectmonitor. On the other hand, solar thermal projects cost around
20 crore per megawatt but it would come down to around 8 crore in next five to 10 years, Gadhia said. However, solar thermal was expected to produce double the amount of energy compared with solar PV, he added. Gehrlicher Solar AG, the German solar energy giant, recently established a joint venture with Greenforce Enviro Pvt. Ltd to offer EPC and other services for solar power plants that are being planned across India. The proposed joint venture aims to take full benefit of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. When questioned if the proposed joint venture would bring down EPC cost in the solar sector, Gadhia stated that the proposed joint venture would offer megawatt services and also involve "robots" in the installation process, which would help lower the cost of labour.
"The cost of panels is only around 40 per cent of expenditure in any solar PV project, so if other costs are reduced then the project cost per megawatt will be reduced further," Gadhia said.
At present, India does not have local players in the solar EPC business. The few ones that exist in this business are actually subcontractors for other international partners. The Gehrlicher Solar- Greenforce Enviro JV is expected to change the scenario in the solar EPC business.
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