Solar Energy in India – Moser Baer gets into Solar Panel Junction Box Production

Moser Baer made ambitious plans of making it big in solar energy but has not managed to execute successfully in its plans.Despite pouring millions of dollars into different parts of solar energy,Moser Baer has failed to make a mark even domestically leave alone globally.However India’s JNNSM has given a fresh lease of life to Moser Baer’s solar investments.The company has managed to win a number of system projects which will be supplied by its inhouse solar panel production.Now the company is also entering into manufacture of low value add items where competition is expected to be much lower.The company is going to build a 1300 MW Solar Module Junction Box Plant to supply India’s fast growing solar capacity.

Note Junction Boxes are not the most important or high-tech component and are used mainly for connecting solar panels to inverters.They don’t cost a lot and do not need either too much technology expertise or engineering skills.Moser Baer will use technology from a Japanese company Yukita Wire.It makes sense to source these components locally rather than importing them because of transportation costs.It seems a good move from Moser Baer and looks like they should prove successful in this effort.Note Moser Baer has invested in polysilicon,concentrating solar PV,thin film modules,crystalline solar cells and module manufacturing.Most of those efforts have been shelved.

Moser Baer Starts Operating Equipment Plant for Solar Modules

Moser Baer India Ltd., the country’s second-biggest solar cell manufacturer, has started operating a a plant producing components for photovoltaic modules.The facility in Noida will have a capacity to produce 2.5 million junction boxes a year using technology from Osaka, Japan-based Yukita Electric Wire Co., the company said in an e- mailed statement.

The plant’s capacity will be sufficient to supply the first 1,300 megawatts of solar power that India is targeting by 2013 under its Solar Mission program, the statement said.The facility will also provide an export base to sell junction boxes to Europe and other overseas markets, the statement quoted Saburo Yukita, vice president and director of the Japanese company, as saying.