India’s BC Jindal Group has pledged to invest INR 150 billion (about USD 1.7 billion) over the next five years in making components for the renewable energy sector.

The group said it plans to diversify its business and start manufacturing solar cells and modules, storage battery cells, and assembly and solar glass.  

To kickstart the ambitious venture, the company will invest INR 40 billion (about USD 465 million) in setting up 2 GW of solar cell manufacturing/solar module production, 4 GWh of battery storage capacity, and a solar glass manufacturing unit with a capacity of 1,200 tonnes per day, the company said, according to a report by news agency PTI.

“Our foray into the renewable energy component manufacturing sector is a reflection of our unswerving commitment towards supporting India’s vision of installing 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030,” a BC Jindal Group spokesperson said, as reported by PTI. “At BC Jindal, we foresee a rising demand for end-to-end products and plan to leverage our expertise in the renewable energy space to offer sustainable solutions.”

The conglomerate said it had shortlisted the western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat to set up production facilities for renewable energy equipment manufacturing.

“Approximately 40 per cent of the manufacturing output is likely to be captively consumed for our renewable energy generation projects,” the spokesperson said.

Recently, the group’s renewable arm, Jindal India Renewable Energy (JIRE), bagged a 300 MW solar-plus-battery energy storage project (BESS) from India’s state-run renewable company NHPC.