The Hindu Business Line : Maharishi Solar in talks with German firm for technology

Hyderabad, Nov. 12 Maharishi Solar Technology Ltd, part of the diversified Maharishi Group that has interests ranging from education to renewable energies and animation industry, plans to invest Rs 300 crore in India in the next two or three years to get new technologies and set up plants that will provide alternative energies at cheaper prices.

The company is in the process of tying up with established foreign companies in the field of solar technologies, as part of its India plans.

Mr Pradeep Khanna, Vice-President, Business Development, said the company was in the final stages of negotiations with a Germany-based company that specialises in solar thermal technologies.

“After we ink the pact, we will be setting up India’s first solar thermal-based power plant in Rajashthan at a cost of about Rs 65 crore. We hope to finalise the agreement (with the German company) within a month,” he told Business Line.

The 3 MW plant, which will be a kind of pilot plant, will come up in two years and will cost 20-25 per cent cheaper than the existing solar-based plants.

“The idea is to demonstrate the technology as one of the cheapest of its kind in the world and encourage private developers to adopt it for larger plants.

“We are mostly in the business of developing least expensive technologies in the field of renewable energy,” he said.

The company has recently tied up with US-based Abengoa for producing solar steam for industrial applications. It will set up a pilot plant that will provide the client industry solar steam at the rate of 350 kg per hour — this is expected to commence operations from January next year. He said the company was also in talks for a tie-up with a US-based company that was engaged in producing photo-voltaic plates.

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