We need to invest in Research & Development to find new technologies and give fillip to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” programme, as the country is known for its innovation, says Sunil Rathi, Director-Sales & Marketing, Waaree Energies in an interview with EN Team.
Waaree is one of leading players in the solar segment. How has your journey been so far?
The journey so far has been wonderful. Since our company believes in customer first, quality and service first, we strive to give our best services to our customers, who have always been our priority.So, if customers are happy, we are truly satisfied.
Could you tell us about your core strengths that make you stand out from other players?
I think our strengths are PDQ — Price, Delivery on time and Quality. In Europe, it stands for Pretty Damn Quick. PDQ is something, which we believe and implement. We invest heavily in engineering, R&D, innovation and getting into new business. Waareeis not just a service provideror product supplier; we are a complete solution provider. We treat our customers as our partners. It is never a transactional deal but always a longterm relationship.
Do you think that Indian grid system is capable to cater that capacity?
Four years ago, it seemed a challenge but, today we have multiple gigawatts been installed. Infrastructure has developed with time and can be developed further in future.
Waaree Energies has joined hands with US-based Merlin Solar for incorporating ‘Merlin’ technology. Tell us more about this path-breaking technology.
Merlin modules have their own unique strength which is its flexibility and rugged nature. It is a technology that mitigates hot spots or micro cracks all the while generating more power while giving an application advantage. Currently we are executing few orders in India, including Indian railways, where we are implementing Merlin on the rail coach rooftops. A lot of e-rickshaws are now coming with Merlin solar panels which have empirically shown dramatic increase in range of the e-rickshaw while also increasing the life of the battery. It is next generation technology and we expect more demand in future. We have started manufacturing a small capacity of 20 MW this year and soon we will have big capacity in India.
In India, mostly the panels are imported from China and are of low quality. As a manufacturer, do you think India should start investing in R&D?
If we want to grow as an industry, R&D has to play a major role. We need to invest in R&D to develop new technologies & boost Make In India because India is known for its innovation. Even the Europeans look towards India for its engineering segment because they consider India as more innovative and understand that we are close to optimum engineering. Indian engineering has done very well. Five years ago, structure was 70-80 tonnes. Today, we have plants that workeffectively with much lesser tonnes.
What according to you are the major challenges in the industry?
I would say lack of visibility. In five years of my journey, I have seen ups and downs in the solar industry. The industry seems more of a seasonal business than a regular business. Even in export market, Indian companies don’t havemuch benefit. Favourable government policies shall help Indian companies become competitive in international market.
India has set the target to achieve 100 GW of solar powered energy by 2022. Do you think it is achievable?
I think it is absolutely achievable. Reaching 100 GW by 2022 is very much possible due to favourable policy changes&financially viabilities. I think a lot of investment is coming in rooftop which is yet to be picked up. We will see entrench growth in residential, commercial as well as institutional solar in near future.
