The manufacturer of solar invertors will initially import the components in a semi-knocked-down state and assemble the units here with the objective of increasing localisation over the years.

Germany based REFUsol, a manufacturer of solar inverters, has set up a manufacturing unit at Lonikand near Pune. The company will manufacture its 10 kW, 13 kW, 17 kW, 20 kW and 23 kW string inverters for the Indian, South Asian and Middle East markets. While an investment of Rs 10.5 crore for this facility has already been made, REFUsol announced that it will invest an additional Rs 35 crore in the next five years. Commenting on this, Norbert Frings, CEO, REFUsol said, "India has a huge potential for solar inverters' market and there is a demand for power generation products. With the imbalance in power generation and demand in India, our solar inverters will play a central role in the Indian and global energy mix."

Along with manufacturing, the company is also setting up a research and development centre in India. "We are bringing advanced solar inverter technology to India and are focusing only the commercial market for selling our three-phase solar inverters," Frings said, adding, "EPCs and investors like the concept of our high-efficiency inverters which will not only give them capital cost benefits but also help them to reduce the operational cost of the plant and getting 2 to 3 per cent more generation benefits. With our local production here in Pune we are now able to meet our customers' needs even better and in shorter time."

The facility has a capacity of producing 15,000 units per year and will manufacture additional central solar inverters having a capacity ranging from 333 kW up to 1 mW. The production will start by July 2013. Initially, the company will import all its products from Germany. It has plans to localise to the extent of 50 per cent by the end of the year. The average cost for generating one watt of power is Rs 660. REFUsol will export these inverters to Africa, Middle East and the South East Asian markets. According to Frings, the three-phase string inverters are suitable for rooftop systems from 10 kW upwards, right through to megawatt parks. Also, even at low irradiation, the three-phase inverters achieve an efficiency of up to 98.2 per cent.