Softbank and foxconn bet billions on solar power in India
SoftBank invested more than US $ 800 million in two leading Indian startups.
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– One of New Delhi’s priorities is a plan to increase solar power output by 5 times to 100 GW by 2022, providing electricity access to about 300 million people not yet connected to the electricity grid.
– The Indian government says that Masayoshi Son, SoftBank chairman, pledged to invest US $ 10 billion in India in the coming years during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October last year. The next day, SoftBank invested over US $ 800 million in two of India’s leading startups.
India, famous for its heavy reliance on fossil fuels and frequent power cuts, received good news on Monday when Bharti Enterprises, Foxconn Technology and SoftBank announced the establishment of a trilateral joint venture to exploit demand. The growing number of cheap electricity using renewable energy sources in this South Asian country.
The joint venture, called SBG Cleantech, plans to produce 20 GW of electricity in India, which will allocate around US $ 20 billion worth of investment in wind and solar power.
It seems that India aims to increase its electricity generation capacity by 50% to fully supply its more than 1.2 billion people by 2019.
Workers are finishing solar panels at Gujarat solar park, Charanka village, Patan town, 250km from Ahmedabad – India
One of New Delhi’s priorities is a plan to increase solar power production by five times to 100 GW by 2022, providing access to electricity for about 300 million people not yet connected to the electricity grid.
The plan to produce solar power is also intended to cut India’s dependence on fossil fuels. India’s imports of oil, gas and coal have soared in recent years, contributing to the trade deficit and reducing confidence of the international community in the country’s economic future. But the recent decline in crude prices coupled with the increased government interest in alternative energies has created some stagnation.
India has made very little progress in its solar power target. According to government data, the country’s total solar power capacity was just over 4 GW at the end of May, accounting for a very small proportion of the total capacity of 255 GW, contributed mainly from coal.
The government hopes that improving the electricity supply across the country, especially in rural areas, will boost economic growth. Connecting households with renewable electricity supplies takes less time than using electrical wiring to connect villages to the traditional power plant network many kilometers away. The reason is that solar and wind power can be used right at the production site, which reduces the cost and energy loss when transmitting.
For Foxconn, this joint venture means expanding into the field of manufacturing solar panels and other devices. This comes as the iPhone and iPad maker for Apple is seeking to expand business profits due to a decline in revenue and profit growth, as well as a tax crackdown in China.
Producing solar panels is relatively easy and requires sand, which India has in abundance.
Bharti Enterprises Chairman, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal (center), SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son (right) and SoftBank CEO Nikesh Arora shake hands at a press conference in New Delhi on June 22, 2015.
For SoftBank, a company specializing in internet and telecommunications technology, this is a good opportunity to explore and expand business profits.
The Indian government said that Masayoshi Son, SoftBank chairman, pledged to invest $ 10 billion in India in the coming years during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October last year. The next day, SoftBank invested more than $ 800 million in two of India’s top startups, Jasper Infotech, the owner of Snapdeal.com and ANI Technologies, the owner of the Ola taxi service, a service similar to Uber.
The investment venture also marks the new business of Bharti Enterprises, the parent company of Bharti Airtel – India’s largest telecommunications network in terms of revenue and users.
SBG Cleantech will be led by Manoj Kohli, right hand man Sunil Mittal – founder and chairman of Bharti – as chairman. Kohli, a veteran figure at Bharti, once led the network into the Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Africa markets as executive director of the telecommunications division. He turned the company into India’s largest operator with more than 140 million users from 1 million when he first took over. In the previous role, he was the CEO of the company.
Other global companies are also betting on India’s solar power sector because it is a long-term contracting industry and a constant source of income for investors.
Earlier this month, SunEdison’s top manager in Asia announced the company plans to invest $ 15 billion to produce 15GW of electricity from wind and solar farms. This statement further clarified the plan to set up a $ 4 billion factory to produce solar panels through a joint venture with Adani Enterprises.
