4th SOLARCON India 2012 concludes triumphantly

BANGALORE, INDIA: SOLARCON India 2012, the fourth edition of India’s premier solar industry business event, was organized by SEMI India in association with the Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Karnataka; Karnataka Udyog Mitra (KUM); Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) and was actively supported by the Union Ministry for New and Renewable Energy, Government of India and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA).

SOLARCON India 2012, inaugurated by Jagadish Shivappa Shettar, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka and Murugesh Rudrappa Nirani, Hon’ble Minister for Large and Medium Industries, Government of Karnataka on September 3rd, 2012 was successfully concluded today. SEMI, the premier Solar/PV industry association and organizer of SOLARCON India, said that it has received a remarkable response from the solar industry, government and stakeholders on this year’s conference entitled "The Promise of Affordable Solar Power in India: Unravelling the Bottlenecks and Identifying Solutions” and the splendid exhibition.

SEMI India is backing the Government of Karnataka’s Solar initiative to achieve the solar energy target of 200 MW by 2016, reinforcing Karnataka as the next Solar Hub of India.

SOLARCON India 2012 witnessed high quality business visitors with a substantial number of CXOs, senior level professionals, government officials and Board level executives. This year’s conference witnessed over 300 delegates from manufacturing, technology, materials, EPC, plant developer and component manufacturing segments actively discussing trends, opportunities and challenges of the Indian solar industry.

Debasish Paul Choudhury, president, SEMI India, said: “The fourth edition of SOLARCON India 2012 was well accepted by the industry, which was proved by their immense participation. SEMI backs the Karnataka state initiated Solar Policy 2011-16 to install 200 MWs Solar power by 2015-16 and their plan to establish Solar parks in Bijapur, Gulbarga and Yadgir districts. We are confident that the solar industry will flourish multi-fold in the coming years with innovative technologies from national and international companies accompanied by the aid from central and state governments.”

SOLARCON India 2012 focused on the technology trends, business opportunities, innovative products, work force development, manufacturing innovations, technology tie ups and best practices that will drive and influence the growth of the Indian solar PV industry. And provided insights into the issues and challenges faced on the ground by developers building Solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in India.

Also, SOLARCON India 2012's CEO forum discussed on the ‘Key requirements of short term & long term, solar manufacturing sustainability in India’ and ‘Can India reach 100 GW installed solar power capacity by 2030?’

Commenting on SOLARCON India 2012, Ajay K. Goel, CEO, TATA Power Solar Systems Ltd, said: “It is an encouraging sign to have so many people from broad walks of life from within and outside India come together to support the industry. In general, the message and outlook was quite positive despite recent challenges.”

Pashupathy Gopalan, MD, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa Operations, SunEdison Energy India Pvt Ltd, adds: “SOLARCON India 2012 was very positive as people are taking so much interest in participating in such events. Also, we like the size as it gives an opportunity to meet everyone. The visionary topics for the conference like producing 100 GW installed solar power capacity by 2030 was interesting with high quality speakers.”

Rajinder Kumar, CMD, Bergen Associates Pvt Ltd, said: “At the time of recession, SOLARCON India 2012 is a good effort to keep the hopes of the industry alive. It is a platform for exchange of new developments that have taken place.” Sanjeev Sirsi, Head-Water Supply Projects and Sustainable Energy Business, Grundfos Pumps India Pvt Ltd, adds, “SOLARCON India 2012 was successful in creating awareness among the people on products that are available for off grid solutions.”

The conference featured high profile speakers including Pashupathy Gopalan, MD, South Asia & Sub Saharan Africa Operations, SunEdison; Dr. Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, Council on Energy, Environment & Water; Ajay K. Goel, CEO, TATA Power Solar; Basant Jain, CEO, Mahindra EPC; Anjan Ghosh, Head - Sales & Marketing, TATA BP Solar India Ltd; K.N. Subramaniam, CEO Moser Baer Solar Systems; Hari Surapaneni, president and CEO, Solar Semiconductor Ltd; Sankar Rao Chodagam, MD, Titan Energy Systems Ltd; Rajinder Kumar, CMD, Bergen Associates Pvt Ltd; Krishna Revankar, CEO-PV System Division, Emmvee Photovoltaic Power Pvt Ltd; Dr. VS Gangadhar Rao, COO (Manufacturing), Lanco Solar Ltd; Prasanth Sakhamuri, chairman, HHV Solar Technologies Pvt Ltd; Shiv Shukla, president and CEO - Abener India, Abengoa Solar India; Dr. Rajeev Sharma, executive director, Indo-US Science & Technology Forum; Dr. Martha Symko Davies - Solar Business Manager at NREL, USA; among many others.

The conference witnessed the participation of high profile government officials namely Dr. K.V. Raju, Economic Advisor to CM, Government of Karnataka; D.N. Narasimha Raju, Principal Secretary, Energy Department, Government of Karnataka; H.V. Raghuram, MD, Karnataka Udyog Mitra; C.R. Vijay Dev, GM, Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL); Shailendra K. Shukla, director, Chhattisgarh State Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) and other esteemed guests from the Government.