Interaction: Sunil Badesra, Head Sales – Sungrow India

Power Insight: What is estimated market size for solar inverter in India? Compared to current FY, how do you look at market growth in past few years?

Sunil Badesra: Indian Solar industry is still very far from 100GW target which is supposed to achieve by 2022 and specially in rooftop it is lagging behind by large numbers.

Though 2018 was bit slow than the predictions made by Industry specialists at the starting of the year 2018 however going forward in 2019 and 2020 it is expected that projects will be back on pace which is required to achieve the dream of 100GW by 2020.

Power Insight: Your view on current prices and technological trends in the Indian solar inverter market?

Sunil Badesra: Recently market has seen some stability in solar tariffs and the same we are expecting to get happen in Inverter prYOurces. Prices has reached to the level where if further drop happens it will be a threat for the industry however in Sungrow, we are committed to bring out the solution which can optimize the project cost for the customers.

In recent years, we have seen that market moved from 4MW block size to 12.5MW block size and 1000V to 1500V and going forward 2100V solutions may come soon. Storage is also going to happen at big scale in near future.

Power Insight: What is your overall target/ expectations for the 2018-19 fiscal period, how much Inverters did you supply to India in the first three quarters of the current FY 2018-19?

Sunil Badesra: We have shipped over 1GW Inverters in the first three quarter of India and in the whole year of 2018, shipment is over 1.5GW shipment which has been done with both String and Central Inverters.

With these shipments we have crossed 3.7GW in India and we are expecting to ship another 300MW of Inverters in this last Quarter which will help us to touch 4GW figure.

Power Insight: Briefly tell us on your product offerings for Indian market and your manufacturing capabilities?

Sunil Badesra: We offer complete range of Inverters in India that includes String Inverters from 10KW to 125KW for commercial, Industrial and small utility projects and 3.125MW Central Inverter for big Utility projects.

We also plan to launch our residential Inverter range in the near future. The production of the String Inverters for both the Indian and US market has began in our Bangalore company already.

By the second half of 2019, we are going to start manufacturing of Central Inverters and going forward we are planning to offer MV solution for utility scale projects as well from Indian factory.

Power Insight: What are your views on market competition in India? Tell us about technology & company USP’s that gives you an edge in the market?

Sunil Badesra: Competition is increasing in market and if you ask us it is very encouraging not only for us but also for our R&D as well as it always motivates to do better.

Sungrow is a technology driven company and we therefore always think we can bring innovative solutions to the market that can offer our clients more competitive advantages in the form of more generation and BOS saving.

Last year we have been able to secure maximum market share in India because of our strength in technology of Inverters and over this more reliable and fast services always makes Sungrow the first choice for our customers.

Power Insight: What challenges are facing the inverter suppliers in India under prevailing uncertainty in India solar sector over last few month on account of Safeguard duty and currency depreciation?

Sunil Badesra: Challenges are always there in different forms like this time BIS is a challenge as labs are not ready which can do Inverter testing.

Safeguard duty hasn’t impacted us much as it was more related to modules however yes there was bit delay in projects due to uncertainty and depreciation of the currency is of concern to all because the main components even made in India are imported externally.

We hope that rupee gets better in future which will help in bringing down the cost of the projects for IPPs.

Power Insight: Tell us about your future plans and commitment to the  Indian solar industry?

Sunil Badesra: Going forward we are planning to introduce new Inverters for Indian market in both String and Central Inverters which will be disclosed as the time progress.

We are already doing good business in storage in other countries like US and as the Indian market has also started getting Storage Tenders. With a full PCS / EMS / Package solution including Batteries, we are prepared for this transition.

We are also dedicated to providing Indian renewable markets with the same reliable standard of services with more innovative quality alternatives.