Over the last few years, there’s been a dramatic increase in the number of renewable and clean tech companies emerging from the Indian sub-continent.
This has largely been in response to the Indian and Pakistan Governments aggressively pushing for the rapid development and implementation of renewable energy projects in the region.
According to NPD Solarbuzz, a significant amount of money has been invested in the Indian renewable energy sector including USD 500 million in solar cell equipment between 2006 and 2012.
India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy also recently announced the approval of a new solar research and technology institute. All of this has led to a host of Indian companies to take the lead in renewable energy and clean technology development not just within Indian shores but also internationally.
Among this growing list of Indian giants are Godawari Green Energy Limited, Sterling and Wilson, Trishe Renewables and Jakson Engineering.
Godawari Green Energy Limited, a business unit of the Hira Group is the latest to break into the international market with a particular focus on Saudi Arabia.
According to J P Tiwari, Chief Executive Officer, Godawari Green Energy, “We are interested in investing in the Kingdom on joint ventures with local companies as a developer and want to leverage our knowledge & experience of successfully commissioning India’s first Solar Thermal project; at a competitive cost in Saudi Arabia.”
As part of their focus on the Saudi market, the company has confirmed their participation as a Gold sponsor at the upcoming 3rd Annual Solar Arabia Summit, organised by French business information group, naseba. The summit is designed to introduce leading international solution and service providers with key decision makers and project holders from Saudi Arabia.
On their participation at the summit, Tiwari commented “this summit provides usa specific target audience, focussing on deal flow and networking opportunities with only serious players along with regional Government officials which in turn help us to fulfil our business plans in the KSA”
The Kingdom has confirmed investments in the region of USD 109 billion to develop 41 GW of new solar energy by 2032. Plans released for achieving this include a break up of 25 GW of CSP and 16 GW of PV technologies.
However Tiwari acknowledges that there are hurdles that need to be overcome in order for Saudi Arabia to successfully achieve their goals.
He points out that “the current national energy plans focuses primarily on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources as a key national priority. However, the action needs to be taken early given the lead times required for the introduction of new technology and economic diversification. Raising domestic energy prices though difficult in their current situation; needs to be addressed at some time in future in a balanced and staged manner else the introduction of new technologies would be hampered on account of price competitiveness.”
Among the companies recent achievements is the successful commissioning of India’s first solar thermal project on July 19th 2013 under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, Phase – 1.