New Delhi, Nov 1 (PTI) Eyeing a footprint in the global renewable energy market, homegrown Solex Energy plans to establish solar module and cell manufacturing capacities in the US as part of its USD 1.5 billion investment roadmap through 2030.
In an interaction, the company's Chairman Chetan Shah said that while the US remains the largest global solar market, steep anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports leave India as the sole viable supplier of low-cost alternatives.
When asked whether Solex Energy is exploring expansion in the US, he replied in the affirmative.
Sharing the rationale behind the move, he said Solex Energy is targeting the US market for expansion primarily to capitalise on the massive global demand for clean energy components while positioning itself as a reliable, cost-effective alternative to Chinese suppliers.
"The US is a high-potential market. While many Indian corporates are already present there, a healthy number of business houses, including us, are also looking to invest there," Shah, who is also the Managing Director (MD) of Solex Energy, told PTI.
In India, the company operates a 4 gigawatt (GW) module manufacturing facility in Gujarat, and aims to increase its capacity to 10 GW. It is also in the process of establishing 10 GW of cell manufacturing and 2 GW of ingot and wafer production.
Shah did not share details of the US projects due to regulatory compliance, but said the investments will be part of the company's USD 1.5 billion investment plan up to 2030.
A team has been formed to study various parameters, including required investments, locations in the US, among others, he said.
On the ALMM-II framework, Shah said the industry is aligned with objectives of the government initiative and has made investments worth thousands of crore to set up module capacities in India to support the country's net zero goals.
However, under the present market circumstances, the industry needs an extension of ALMM-II by at least 12 months on account of cell availability, he added.
ALMM-II framework mandates sourcing of made-in-India cells from an approved list of module manufacturers (ALMM).
As of October 2026, India had about 262 GW of module manufacturing capacity and only about 37 GW of cell capacity, he noted.
"Amid this huge gap between module and cell capacity in India, out of the installed capacities, most of them are of old MONO PERC technology and several capacities are also non-operational," Shah said, adding that the module capacities have been set up for use of the latest TOPcon technology.
