Solar panels manufactured by a solar power installer

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Vikram Solar is a solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm in India. Their projects run the full gamut of size – 18.5 kW rooftop, 1 MW floating, 2.15 MW commercial rooftop, 5 MW as part of a nationwide defense system hardening portfolio, and just for good measure – a 200 MW utility scale whale. Their rooftop portfolio consists of greater than 500 installations at 250+ sites totalling 27 MW installed, and 25 MW+ in the pipeline. The utility scale portfolio is just greater than 1 GW, in stages from commissioned to under development.

Vikram Solar is also a solar panel manufacturer. Currently, they have about 1.1 GW of annual manufacturing capacity located in India, with an expectation to be at 2 GW by the middle of 2020. The company opened an office in Framingham, Massachusetts in February 2018, has been in Germany for a decade, and runs its international module business – USA included – via offices in Singapore.

The Vikram Group has greater than 40 years of business behind them, starting in the tea processing industry, eventually joining the textile manufacturing field, and most recently the solar business since 2006.

pv magazine USA sat down with them while at Solar Power International in Salt Lake City, as they were announcing three solar modules available for the US market. The company’s product specification pages are located here, with the three USA products noted below:

  • SOMERA P-Duplex Frameless Bifacial – 72 cells, module ranging from 375 to 400 Wp, 30-year linear power warranty, available January 2020
  • SOMERA P-Duplex Framed Bifacial Half-Cell – 144 half-cells, transparent back sheet, modules ranging from 390 to 420 Wp, 30-year linear power warranty, available March 2020
  • SOMERA Grand Ultima Max Half-Cell – 150 Mono PERC half-cells, modules ranging from 405 to 425 Wp, 27-year linear power warranty, available January 2020

When asked about the longer than average warranty, Ravi Vaidya – VP of Global Market – at Vikram Solar, noted that all modules are individually tracked, so problems can be traced, helping fix issues at the source quickly. That the group’s EPC services build with their own modules also gives them additional insight to field issues.

Like many groups they work with DNV GL testing their bill of materials – which are available upon request and a signed NDA. Recently, lessons of automation have driven gains. The company uses at least some of Meyer Burger’s manufacturing lines for product headed to the US markets, and thinly laid out bus bars have been a part of that relationship.

And just for good measure, because it seems like every solar manufacturer has this picture as part of their marketing material – here are technicians spot checking a completed solar module:

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