OCI Global Ltd., one of polysilicon and chemical maker OCI Co.’s solar-project development units, is targeting about a gigawatt of photovoltaic power plants in China and India by 2018.The company will provide $400 million of equity financing for the projects, amounting to about 30 percent of total project investment with the rest coming from elsewhere, the unit’s chief investment officer, Pranab Kumar Sarmah, said in an interview in Shanghai on Tuesday.
China and India have both set ambitious targets to boost solar power, spurring interest among project developers. The OCI unit plans for the developments to be evenly split, with 500 megawatts of projects in each nation amid a push by its parent to expand its downstream business, Sarmah said.Manufacturing is a “cyclical business and all depends on demand and the supply situation,” Sarmah said. However, “for the power business, if you have executed well, you can expect decent cash flows in the next 20 to 25 years.”The Seoul-based manufacturer, which previously embarked on a push to develop solar power in the U.S., expects to complete about 650 megawatts of projects globally this year, according to Sarmah.
OCI Global completed 18 megawatts of distributed solar projects in China last year and is expected to complete another 100 megawatts or more of solar-power plants in the nation at the end of this year, said Sarmah.The company in February set up an office in India where it expects to have 36 megawatts of projects under construction from next month, said Sarmah.
Source:Bloomberg
