Conversation Highlights:
We are on the path to solve several customer problems including financing, quality of Installation and achieving an exceptional uptime for our distributed fleet.
I expect innovative technologies like solar tiles and integrated roofs to continue to get broader acceptance from premium customers.
Polysilicon and wafer supply is expected to expand significantly in 2023 leading to lower costs through the year.
What have been some milestones achieved by SunEdison in 2022?
We at SunEdison are committed to drive business with high degree of customer centricity. High NPS scores is something which keeps guiding us to do the right things for the customer. Through the year we stayed focused on transforming our entity into a residential and small commercial business with exceptional focus on building customer value and aligning our Supply Chain and Fulfillment organization in that direction.
We are on the path to solve several customer problems including financing, quality of Installation and achieving an exceptional uptime for our distributed fleet. We have forged valuable partnerships for introducing key solar solutions in the Indian market. Our product design is driven by reliable technology and customer-focus. Our technology pilots have received promising market response.
How do you see technology’s contribution has changed over the past year in solar how do you see it evolving in the future?
The market has seen lot of technological changes in the last few years as the Panels become more efficient and robust. Currently we are seeing a major shift from poly to mono perc and major websites like Infolinks and PV insights stopped tracking the market price of poly components. The limited capacity in India for handling cells made from M8 and M10 wafers caused significant uncertainty in availability of high quality material in later part of the year. I expect this to stabilize in 2023 and M10 mono-perc modules to continue to dominate in 2023.
In addition I expect innovative technologies like solar tiles and integrated roofs to continue to get broader acceptance from premium customers.
What is your outlook on the solar policy market at present in India?
The policy framework on solar rooftop has seen a lot of positive actions in the last few quarters. The efforts have been directed to make solar adoption easier for the end customer. it is difficult to see what further changes are likely to come on the policy front. What is critical is the uniform adoption of the policy across the country. The Launch of the National Solar portal which ensures direct benefit to the end consumer is a welcome step. It takes us away from the tender market practice of entire market complying to L1 prices. As a result it opens up the market to provide superior products and services to the customers to enable them to truly realize 25 year generation on their solar assets. Time taken for net metering continues to be an area of concern in several states with the processes being extremely long and arduous. Simplification of net metering process will significantly help in faster adoption of green energy.
Polysilicon and wafer supply is expected to expand significantly in 2023 leading to lower costs through the year. One expects this to help improve the payback period of solar assets leading to faster growth. However further weakness in rupee exchange rate may evaporate this gain. In 2022 the rupee dollar exchange rate dipped by more than 12% and a stable rupee is key to a profitable and stable 2023.
Please tell us about how you are planning for further growth and expansion and what milestones you are aiming at for 2023?
In 2023 we aim to continue our focus on creating exceptional customer experience. Our customers are our best ambassador and we shall continue our journey to translate our business from EPC into Experience, Product and Customer Centricity. We shall continue to focus on value engineering and productivity enhancement to make exceptional products more affordable for the end customer.
