Solarcon India 2009 concludes; Solarcon India 2010 in Hyderabad from November 15-17, 2010

HYDERABAD, INDIA: Solarcon India 2009, India’s first focused event for the solar/PV space, which was inaugurated by K. Rosaiah, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on November 9 successfully concluded today.

SEMI, the main organization behind the show also shared that with the first edition successful and receiving overwhelming industry and government response, it is going to be back in Hyderabad with a bigger, better Solarcon India 2009 between November 15-17, 2010.

The Inaugural edition of Solarcon India saw 3,000 high quality business visitors attend of which 63 percent were senior management including executives at the Board level with the rest occupied by middle management professionals.

Majority of the visitors were from the device/equipment manufacturing, materials, sub-systems, component and part manufacturing segments reinforcing the growth of the Indian industry backwards and forward to encompass the entire supply chain.

The conference highlight with high profile speakers ranging from Prof. Eicke Weber (PhD), Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), K. Subramanya, CEO of Tata BP Solar, G. Rajeswaran, CTO of Moser Baer Photovoltaic, Dr. Charlie Gay, President of the Solar Business Group at Applied Materials, Dr. Pramod Deo IAS, Chairperson, CERC, Dr. Rajiv Arya, CEO, Moser Baer India, Anand Rangachary, Managing Director – South Asia and Middle East, Frost Sullivan to Prof. Peter Adelmann, Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Germany among others.

There were multiple major announcements made on the sidelines of the event including the government of AP’s announcement of a Solar City in Anantpur and a policy at the state level building on the National Solar Mission, which is slated later this week, besides those from global majors to Indian companies.

It was estimated that$16 billion in investments will be attracted by the state of Andhra Pradesh in this space once the policy incentives kick in.

Addressing a media briefing on the concluding day, Dan Martin, Executive Vice-president, and Head of the PVGroup worldwide, said: "The inaugural edition exceeded our expectations and am pleased with the response from all stakeholders to Solarcon India 2009.

"Being a key initiative of SEMI in the Indian market, it provides us the confidence to now pick up the learning and inputs provided by this platform and take it forward through the time tested collaborative approach of SEMI globally. Am personally excited about the role we can play in the Indian solar/PV market which is at a nascent stage.”

Speaking on the key challenges currently not focused upon in the Indian solar/PV space which SEMI India will take it forward in the coming months and years, Sathya Prasad, President, SEMI India, said: “We have identified Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) and standards (Global) as the areas of focus. Already, we have brought for the first time an international technology workshop in EHS to India and we will follow it up with other initiatives.

"In standards, the focus will be to start the engagement of the country in the global standards process which is critical as the Indian industry starts growing in the space. I would like to thank all the stakeholders for making this a success and look forward to being back bigger and better in 2010.”