India’s Tata Power plans solar ingot and wafer plant

From pv magazine India

Tata Power plans to build a 10 GW solar ingot and wafer manufacturing facility in India with a capital investment of about INR 65 billion ($720.7 million), marking a move to deepen backward integration across its solar supply chain.

The proposed plant will focus exclusively on ingots and wafers and is intended to support Tata Power’s existing 4.8 GW of integrated solar cell and module capacity, comprising 4.3 GW in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, and 0.5 GW in Bengaluru.

Discussions are underway with several state governments on potential incentives, while the company expects support under the Government of India’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. Tata Power said the central government is keen to accelerate domestic ingot and wafer capacity, given the limited scale of current supply.

“Ingot/wafer manufacturing requires sophisticated technology, large capital investment, and complex execution capabilities, making it a high-barrier segment with limited competition,” the company said.

Industry capacity remains skewed toward downstream manufacturing. India had about 5.3 GW of wafer capacity as of June 2025, compared with roughly 29 GW of cell capacity and 120 GW of module capacity, according to JMK Research.

Tata Power estimates domestic demand for ingots and wafers will exceed 50 GW by 2030, driven by continued expansion in cell and module manufacturing. The company said the planned facility is intended to secure raw material supply for its own operations while supplying wafers to other cell and module producers.