Foreign investors tie up for solar wafer unit in Bengal
Monday, 29 October 2007, 19:30 IST
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Kolkata: An eight-member team from South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore formalised an agreement with the West Bengal government and Kolkata-based Synergy Renewable Energy Private Ltd (SREPL) here Saturday to set up a $400 million solar wafer manufacturing unit in the state. The company, Kits Solar, will be a 100 percent export-oriented unit and will have its facility at Durgapur in Burdwan distict, around 100 km from here. "The project will be the first in India in the renewable energy sector and will have a positive impact in the field of solar energy. We are glad to be a part of this prestigious project in West Bengal," said SREPL chairman Cecil Antony. "The total amount will be invested in phases over the next five years. In the first year about $40 million will be spent in setting up the facility at Durgapur while the rest will be invested for installing advanced machineries at the unit," Antony said. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was earlier signed with Komex and Associates at Seoul when a delegation from the ministry of power & non-conventional energy led by West Bengal Power Minister Mrinal Banerjee and West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Authority (WBREDA) director S.P. Gonchaudhuri visited South Korea in September this year. The foreign investors' team met West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya at the state secretariat Friday. The state government will hold 10 percent equity in the project through WBREDA. The project is expected to be operational within the next 18 months.
Source: IANS
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