Borosil Renewables to invest Rs 1,500 crore in two years to add capacity by 2.5 times

Solar panel glass manufacturer Borosil Renewables on Monday said it will invest Rs 1,500 over the next two years to expand its capacity by nearly 2.5 times and supply 15 GW of solar modules by FY25.

"We are doubling down on our investments because being the first and the only domestic manufacturer of solar panel glasses we see sky is the limit for demand. Accordingly, we are investing another Rs 1,500 crore to take our capacity to 1,550 TPD by FY24 and to 2,100 TPD by FY25 which will help us supply 15 GW of solar modules," Pradeep Kheruka, executive chairman of Borosil Renewables, told PTI.

The company will also invest in its German plant to increase its capacity to 500 TPD (Tonnes Per Day) from 300 TDP now by 2023, he said.

"With these capacity augmentation, by FY25 we will be able to supply 2,600 TDP of solar panel glasses that can generate 15 GW of power and make us the largest non-Chinese-owned company in the world,"

Kheruka said, adding all the domestic expansion will be in and around the company's Baruch facility in Gujarat.

The Borosil Group firm in late April acquired German company Interfloat Group -- the largest solar glass manufacturer in Europe -- for 55.5 million euro. The deal involved an upfront cash payout of 30 million euro, and 22.5 million euro through issuing of fresh equity (by Borosli Universal) and 50 per cent sharing of earned profit from 2023, a top Borosil official said.

"While our ongoing expansion has been delayed by a few months due to the pandemic-induced supply disruptions and the resultant cost increase to Rs 680 crore from the initially-planned Rs 500 crore. Now the brownfield expansion in Baruch should be ready by September from the originally planned commissioning of July, and more than double our domestic capacity to 1,000 TPD (Tonnnes Per Day), Kheruka said.

Kheruka said that the company's expansion is underway which "will take our capacity to 1,000 TPD by September".
In the next expansion phases, he said, the company will reach 1,550 TPD capacity by the end of FY24, and 2,100 TPD by the end of FY25 and add another 500 TPD in Germany.

"This means that, we will have about 2,600 TPD manufacturing capacity by FY25, and we will be able to supply solar glass for more than 15 GW of solar modules while de-risking production from a single location," Kheruka said.

On the cost escalation since the pandemic and of late due to the Russia-Ukraine war, he said the cost of steel and labour has jumped 30-40 per cent.
In the first nine months of FY22, Borosil earned Rs 502.3 crore in revenue, up from Rs 465.2 crore in FY21. Its exports in FY21 stood at 20 per cent or worth Rs 110 crore, which included Rs 70 crore from SEZ exports.

The company ships to Germany Poland, Canada, the US, Mexico, and the Middle East.

About the company's deal with German firm, Kheruka said the acquisition will further cement its position as the largest non-Chinese-owned solar glass producer in the world.

The French major Saint Gobain was producing solar panel glasses till April 2021 but stopped since then due to Chinese imports, he said.

On the Interfloat Group, Kheruka said the German firm is currently profitable and debt-free and had closed 2021 with a revenue of 60 million euro. He hopes to complete the deal over the next 18 weeks.

The Interfloat Group consists of Glass Manufacturing Brandenburg, located at Tschernitz near Berlin, that operates a solar glass plant with 300 tonnes per day and Interfloat Corporation based in Ruggell in the Liechtenstein.

The group has also been manufacturing glass for solar thermal plants and greenhouse glass markets since 2010 and servicing customers in Europe for close to 40 years.

Borosil Renewables, part of the six decades old Borosil Group, commissioned its first solar glass manufacturing facility at Baruch in Gujarat in January 2010 with 180 TPD capacity, which was then expanded to 450 TPD or 2.8 GW of solar modules.

The Borosil Group was founded in 1962 in collaboration with Corning Glass of the US, comprises two publicly listed entities -- Borosil and Borosil Renewables.

Borosil manufactures around 600 consumer and laboratory glass products such as laboratory glassware, pharma packaging, microwavable kitchenware, and now cookwares tableware and solar glass at its Jaipur, Nashik, Pune and Tarapur plants.

The Borosil counter shed over 5.6 per cent to close at Rs 595.60 on the BSE which closed down 67 basis points over Friday close.