— Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

WIDENING HORIZON: Ravi Khanna (left), CEO, Moser Baer Photovoltaic, and Mark Pinto, CTO, Applied Materials, U.S., after signing an agreement on thin film technology in New Delhi on Monday. Deepak Puri (second from left), CMD, Moser Baer, and Kapil Sibal, Minister for Science and Technology, look on.

NEW DELHI: Moser Baer, maker of computer compact discs, on Monday said it would invest $250 million over the next three years to set up a thin film solar fab.

The company had entered into a technology partnership with the U.S.-based Applied Materials to build the unit at its existing SEZ at Greater Noida, Moser Baer Chairman and Managing Director Deepak Puri said here. The project would help generate 200 MW of solar energy by 2009, he added.

"According to market figures, the thin film based solar modules market is expected to reach a size of $5 billion globally by 2010 with a demand of 2 GW,'' Mr. Puri said.

The unit would be commercially operational by March 2008 and the construction would begin next week, he said. "The company will start with a capacity of 40 MW, which will be increased to 200 MW by 2009,'' company's CFO Y. B. Mathur said. We would focus on global markets initially to sell our product, he added. Moser Baer is also expecting government incentives under the recently announced semiconductor policy.

Applied Materials CTO Mark Pinto said, "India holds tremendous potential both as a worldwide hub for solar panel production and as an end market for photovoltaic electric power.'' Applied Materials posted a turnover of $9 billion last year and employs about 13,000 people worldwide, including 800 in India. — PTI

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