To meet the rising demand for glass used in solar panels, Borosil Renewables (erstwhile Gujarat Borosil), is going to add a 500 tonnes per day float glass line. The plant will be built near its existing plant in the Kutch district.

Borosil is engaged in the manufacturing of low iron solar glass for application in photovoltaic panels, flat plate collectors and green houses. In addition to serving some of India’s largest solar panel manufacturers, the company also exports products to Europe, Turkey, Russia, Americas, and MENA regions.

Borosil expects to benefit from the boom in the deployment of solar power generation capacities, with the Indian government having set a target of increasing capacity from current 40 GW (gigawatts) to 300 GW by 2030 with increased focus on domestic production of modules.

During the last few years, the Indian government has launched several schemes for the development of the industry. One is the SECI Scheme and the other is Kusum Scheme - where all the panels that are to be used in these schemes and projects under them have to be procured from India, so, they have to be made in India and the solar cells have to be made in India. This has prompted Borosil Renewables to add a capacity of 500 tonnes per day.

"India is strongly encouraging the development of a solar panel manufacturing ecosystem, and Borosil Renewables is the sole domestic manufacturer of the critical glass component," according to Harsha Raghavan, managing partner of Convergent, a company which recently invested in Borosil Renewables.