Innovating Towards a Greener Future: Navitas Solar’s Impact on India’s PV Market – Ankit Singhania, Director-Sales & Procurement & Co-Founder, Navitas Solar

Key Highlights:

• Our Navitas N-Type TOPCon Half Cut Bifacial modules set new standards for solar innovation. 
• Navitas Solar leads in adopting emerging PV tech, ensuring unparalleled module performance. 
• Scaling up to 5 GW annual manufacturing, venturing into green hydrogen

1. What recent developments have you observed in the Indian PV market, and how do they influence Navitas Solar’s sales and procurement strategies?

Increasing demand of TOPCon modules, futuristic adaption of IBC technology, encouragement from the government(Make in India concept) to install manufacturing companies in India for solar products like solar encapsulants, ribbons, junction boxes, frame, glass etc are the recent developments we have observed in the Indian PV market. We are in this industry from last 11 years, so the rigorous know-how of the industry and our quick adaptiveness of the recent trends from the market help us a lot to shape our sales and procurement strategies. 

2. Can you discuss emerging PV technologies Navitas Solar is exploring and their impact on India’s solar industry?

N-type TOPCon (Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contacts) technology is a new method in module manufacturing that helps to enhance the efficiency of solar panels that is essentially the next generation of PERC. TOPCon is a technology that involves adding a very thin layer of silicon dioxide (sio2) and a layer of phosphorus doped polycrystalline silicon, which is done to create passivated contact structures on both front and the back surfaces. This additional layer helps to reduce losses and improve the extraction of carriers by using passivated contact structures on both the front and back surfaces. These panels can continue generating power for a longer period. 

Additionally, TOPCon cells have better conversion efficiency, which means they can potentially lower the cost of manufacturing per watt. TOPCon technology helps to decrease surface recombination and enhances the durability and consistent performance of the panels over time. TOPCon solar panels have a low power degradation rate in the first year of operation and for the next 30 years too. In the next few years, TOPCon technology will be dominating the Indian Solar industry. Also, IBC technology will make its prominent position in the Indian solar market. 

3. What are the most significant trends currently impacting the Indian solar market, and how is Navitas Solar adapting to capitalize on these trends?

There are many significant trends currently impacting the Indian solar market like demand and adaption of next generation N-type TOPCon Half Cut Bifacial modules. We try to cope up with the advance technologies in the current solar market and try to adapt the same to maintain our position. Our USP is a young team who can quickly understand changes of solar industry and adapt the same. We try to spread awareness regarding solar through various campaigns.

4. Are there new products or innovations Navitas Solar plans to introduce for the evolving Indian solar market?

Recently, we have launched our next generation Navitas N-Type TOPCon Half Cut Bifacial modules in our portfolio. With 144 & 156 half-cells & 16 bus bars available in 3.2 mm ARC Glass with transparent back sheet & 2 mm in glass-to-glass combinations, our latest technologies modules can generate power from 560 watts to 720 watts per panel offering module efficiency >22%. This innovative addition has the potential to completely reinvent the solar industry in the upcoming years with its high performance and superior technology. With this development, we are sure that Navitas Solar will establish new standards in the solar industry and we believe that Navitas N-type TOPCon modules will be the choice of consumers in the upcoming years.

5. What are Navitas Solar’s expansion plans and positioning strategies amidst growing competition in India?

We have expanded to 2 GW per annum of manufacturing capacity this year. Our plans are to expand our manufacturing capacity up to 5 GW p.a. by 2026. We want to start backward integration in solar cells manufacturing with the capacity of 1.5 GW per annum in the next few years. Navitas Group wants to enter into Electrolyzer Manufacturing like Green Hydrogen, Green Ammonia in upcoming time. 

6. What strategic initiatives is Navitas Solar implementing to maintain its leadership in Indian solar PV module manufacturing?

Recently, we became Official Renewable Energy Partner for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team for this T20 season. This collaboration will not only increase our visibility and brand recognition, but also align with our goal of promoting a more sustainable future. By teaming up with one of the T20’s most popular teams, we aim to influence cricket enthusiasts to encourage global adoption of renewable energy solutions and environmental conservation. We hope this strategy will help us to maintain our top position in the Indian solar PV module manufacturing industry.