In Conversation with Vineet Mittal, Director & Co-founder, Navitas Solar

Navitas Solar has been a well respected player in the solar sector with 200 MW of installed manufacturing capacity in the country. It produces state-of-the-art mono/multi crystalline solar photovoltaic (PV) modules for supply to both on-grid and off-grid residential, commercial as well as industrial establishments. The Surat-based company also provides a complete lifecycle of solar power solutions and expertise that includes developing, installing and constructing solar power plants. Recently, the firm also expanded its offerings to include the solar pumps business.

In a conversation with Saur Energy International, Navitas Solar’s Co-Founder and Managing Director Vineet Mittal says his company is serving more than 1400 customers at present and it will be launching Bonito – mono PERC half cut modules upto 600 W – this year. Excerpts:

Q. Tell us about the year gone by for Navitas, and plans for 2022 and beyond?

Vineet Mittal: The year 2022 is going  in fast forward mode for Navitas Solar. Navitas employs more than 300 people and serves more than 1400 customers across India for various government, semi-government and private projects. We have an in-house EVA sheet manufacturing company as backward integration, which is in the top 5 EVA manufacturers of India. We also have in-house Li-ion battery Production Company as our forward integration. We are keenly working on building a carbon-neutral, sustainable organization and working towards the global clean energy drive through practical solutions. We are going to launch Bonito (Mono PERC Half cut modules up to 600W) in this year.

Q. What is the present production capacity of your company and expansion plans?

Vineet Mittal: Navitas Green Solutions Pvt. Ltd. specializes in the manufacturing of high efficiency mono & polycrystalline solar modules. Our existing production capacity is 200 MW pa. We are expanding the production capacity to 500 MW pa by April end, 2022. We have EVA sheet manufacturing also of capacity 750 MW. We are also increasing its capacity to 1.75 GW. Navitas Solar is already among the top 10 manufacturers featured by JMK research and analytics.

Q. With the PLI scheme bringing in a lot of new players as well as fresh capacity, how do you see the market for domestic players evolving?

Vineet Mittal: The market will definitely evolve with the entry of new players, and we welcome their entry. The PLI scheme has delivered on its objective of adding to the manufacturing capacity in the country, and we look forward to the expanded version doing even more for the broader manufacturing ecosystem of goods manufacturers. It also goes well with the governments ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ objectives.

Q. Which are the big growth areas Navitas Solar is targeting?

Vineet Mittal: Navitas Solar is targeting residential rooftop solar & other forms of distributed solar areas.

Q. How has the foray into solar water pumps gone for you? What do you see as the key challenges there for faster growth?

Vineet Mittal: The key challenge in solar water pumps is awareness. The end user who is the farmer has lack of awareness regarding the solar water pumps. They are facing many problems due to water shortage in irrigation, but because of lack of information, they do not get the correct guidance. The finance involved in the solar pumps is also one of the challenge. End user does not have that much finance to install the pump and is also unaware about the financial incentives provided by the government to encourage solar water pumps.

Q. The MNRE has announced policy changes to encourage rooftop solar growth recently. Do you think these will work?

Vineet Mittal: The recent policy changes in Rooftop Solar including various subsidy announcements will encourage solar growth. Apart from that, consumer awareness has also helped to grow the rooftop solar market. People of tier 2 and 3 cities are also having knowledge about rooftop solar and they have also started installing solar. The key issue in rooftop solar installation is delay in subsidy disbursement.

Q. How do you evaluate the opportunity in solar+storage solutions?

Vineet Mittal: Solar + storage is definitely going to come. Opportunities in solar + storage (hybrid) are tremendous. The remote areas where grid connectivity is an issue, storage+ solar is a boon for them. Solar + storage may solve many problems like reliability, continuity of power supply. The Europe energy storage market is expected to reach 5.2 GW of installed capacity in 2027 from 1.6 GW in 2020. In US, it is forecasted that the country’s installed energy storage will reach about 4 GW by 2021 and up to 7 GW by 2025. India’s requirement for battery storage is estimated at 120 GWh by 2030 to support its 500 GW renewable capacity target. Li-ion battery technology will drive the growth of stationary storage within BESS over the next ten years. With advanced technology in battery storage solutions, solar + storage will also take a progressive lead in the solar market. On grid system does not give back up, therefore the hybrid system (solar with storage) is preferred during blackout.

Q. Do you see categories like BIPV finally making an appearance strongly in the Indian market?

Vineet Mittal: The demand for BIPV is mainly driven by residential roofing systems and commercial retrofit projects. The use of sustainable and greener cleaning technology has grown significantly in recent years. The steep rise in BIPV demand for commercial applications will mainly ride on the growth of industries and businesses due to mandates regarding building codes and the affinity for zero energy and self-sustained buildings. We are working with a Swiss company through their India partner for a large demo BIPV project. We shall provide the details once it is done.