Jakson, firm behind solar panels on rail coaches, plans 1 GW manufacturing unit

Moneycontrol News

The Noida-based Jakson Group, the firm behind the solar panels installed on the roof of coaches of the country’s first solar-powered diesel electric multiple unit or DEMU, plans to increase its solar manufacturing capacity manifold, according to its Vice Chairman and Managing Director Sundeep Gupta. The company plans to have manufacturing capacities of 1 GW solar modules and 250 MW solar cells by 2020 at a site in Gujarat. The company plans to invest Rs 700 crore in setting up the two-phase project.

The company is currently exploring two to three sites for the Gujarat plant.

“In the first phase, a capacity of 500 MW of solar modules would be set up. In the second phase, another 500 MW of solar module manufacturing and 250 MW of the solar cell would be established,” Gupta told Moneycontrol. This will mark a major scale-up in the manufacturing capacity of the company which currently has a capacity of only 70 MW solar modules, components and other solar products at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

Jakson is also known for the large diesel-based power generating sets that power electricity in malls, shopping complex and residential apartments.

The company operates in four key business areas – power generation and distribution, solar, EPC and defence. The power generation business includes sales of diesel gensets, construction of diesel power plants, sales and distribution of original Cummins spare parts and authorized country distributorship of Cummins products in Bangladesh.

Jakson’s solar business comprises independent solar power plants, solar EPC for both land-based and rooftop solar power plants, manufacturing of solar modules and solar products. The group also owns and operates three solar independent power plants with a total installed capacity of 60 MW.

Exports to Africa from the proposed Gujarat plant is one of the key business opportunities that the company is eyeing once the plant gets commissioned. “We are setting up the plant in Gujarat as we also expect to export a good part of our production, especially to African countries,” Gupta said. The company recently received some orders from African countries for solar EPC.

Jakson is currently executing a 100 MW land-based solar project for NLC (formerly Neyveli Lignite) in Tamil Nadu and several rural and urban electrification projects in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.