India's Adani puts off polysilicon production plans - report

Adani Enterprises Ltd (BOM:512599) may back out of a plan to build polysilicon production capacity in India because of the lack of clarity on policy, sources told the Economic Times.

In 2016 Adani Green Energy started work on the first phase of a USD-2-billion (EUR 1.8bn) integrated solar manufacturing project. Phases I and II envisaged the construction of factories to produce solar cells and modules, while under phase III the company was to build India’s first polysilicon production plants.

According to the Economic Times’ sources, the 1.2-GW phase I plant for cells and modules has been completed, but is running at about 40% capacity as demand is low. Phase II has been put on hold.

The Indian daily cited the informed persons as saying that the company will not be moving forward with the polysilicon project unless the government lives up to its promise to introduce a scheme to support domestic solar production.

Department of Commerce data recently showed that China accounted for 86.6% of solar module and cell imports to India, worth about USD 2.2 billion, in the 11 months between April 2016 and February 2017. India, on the other hand, exported solar modules and cells worth just USD 66 million, down by 58% on a year ago.

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