Premier Energies Limited commissioned its 7 GW N-type TOPCon G12R solar cell facility at Naidupeta in Andhra Pradesh on 21 September 2026 and started trial production. The addition takes the Hyderabad based company’s total solar cell capacity from 3.6 GW to 10.6 GW. The Naidupeta plant is now India’s largest solar cell manufacturing facility by capacity.
What Did Premier Energies Commission in Naidupeta?
Premier Energies Limited announced the commissioning of its 7 GW N-type TOPCon (Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact) G12R solar cell facility at Naidupeta in Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. The company disclosed the development to the stock exchanges on 21 September 2026. The plant has entered trial production and is now in stabilisation and ramp up phase, so it has not yet reached full commercial output.
The Naidupeta facility is spread across 101 acres and was built at a capital expenditure of ₹3,293 crore (about $343.7 million). The company completed it on time and within budget. At full throughput, the plant is designed to produce nearly 88,000 solar cells per hour.
The plant uses high throughput, digitally controlled manufacturing. Advanced digital systems and artificial intelligence support predictive performance checks, tighter process control and precise manufacturing. Fully automated transport, packing and packaging systems improve speed and consistency. A Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system is designed to recycle and reuse water, which reduces liquid waste release and supports responsible resource use.
Premier Energies has designed the Naidupeta line to be future ready. The line can be upgraded to next generation TOPCon+ processes, including poly finger metallisation and advanced edge isolation steps. After stabilisation, the company targets an average cell conversion efficiency of about 25.8%. The company management has said the timing of this addition is important because demand for high efficiency domestic cells is rising, and larger scale will improve supply reliability and operating efficiency.
What Is a Solar Cell and How Does It Work?
A solar cell is a small device that turns sunlight directly into electricity. It is made mainly from silicon. When sunlight hits the cell, it frees tiny particles called electrons. The cell then pushes these electrons in one direction, and this flow of electrons is electric current.
A solar cell works on the photovoltaic effect, which means light creates voltage and current in a material. Most cells use a thin slice of silicon called a wafer. The wafer has two layers with different electrical charges, one positive and one negative. The meeting point of these layers is called a p-n junction, and it creates an internal electric field.
When sunlight particles hit the silicon, they knock electrons loose from atoms. The internal field pushes the loose electrons toward one side and the remaining gaps, called holes, toward the other side. Metal lines on the front and back of the cell collect these charges. When the cell is connected to a wire, the electrons flow through the wire and power lights, fans, pumps or the grid.
Solar cells are made in stages. Quartz is refined into pure polysilicon, melted into ingots, cut into wafers, treated to form the junction, coated to reduce reflection, and fitted with metal contacts. A single cell produces only a few watts, so many cells are joined and sealed behind glass to form a solar module, commonly called a solar panel. Dozens of modules together form a solar plant.
What Is TOPCon Solar Cell Technology?
TOPCon stands for Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact. It is an advanced design for silicon solar cells. It adds an ultra thin oxide layer and a doped silicon layer on the back of the cell. This pair reduces energy loss and lets more sunlight turn into electricity.
In a normal cell, some electrons are lost when they meet the metal contact at the back. This loss is called recombination, and it lowers voltage and output. Premier Energies uses n-type TOPCon to control this loss. The TOPCon stack has an ultra thin silicon oxide layer, about one to two nanometres thick, plus a heavily doped polycrystalline silicon layer. The thin oxide allows useful electrons to pass through by a process called quantum tunnelling, while it blocks unwanted charges. The doped layer then carries the current to the metal contact with low resistance.
The term N-type refers to the base wafer. The wafer is doped, or mixed, with phosphorus, which has extra electrons. N-type wafers have longer working life for charges, lower light induced degradation and higher voltage than the older P-type wafers, which are doped with boron. The term G12R refers to the wafer size and shape. It is a rectangular wafer of about 182.3 mm by 210 mm with 16 busbars, which are the thin metal lines that carry current. Larger rectangular wafers hold more power per cell and suit large high output modules.
The table below compares TOPCon with the earlier mainstream technology, Mono PERC (Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell).
| Feature | Mono PERC | N-type TOPCon |
|---|---|---|
| Base wafer | Mostly P-type | N-type |
| Cell efficiency in mass production | About 23% to 23.8% | About 24.5% to 26.3% |
| Theoretical limit | About 24.5% | About 28.7% |
| Bifaciality, or power from the back side | About 70% | More than 80%, up to 85% |
| Light induced degradation | Higher in P-type | Very low in N-type |
| Performance in heat | Loses more power as temperature rises | Loses less power, so better in hot regions |
| Line compatibility | Standard line | Can be built by upgrading PERC lines with a few extra steps |
TOPCon has become the industry standard after PERC because it gives higher efficiency at a modest extra cost. It also supports bifacial modules, which collect reflected light from the back side and suit ground mounted plants and rooftops with light coloured surfaces.
Premier Energies Company Profile and Manufacturing Scale
Premier Energies Limited is an integrated solar cell and module maker headquartered in Secunderabad, Telangana. The company was set up in 1995 in Hyderabad by Surender Pal Singh Saluja. It started with solar lanterns and street lights, began module assembly in 1999, set up its first cell line of 75 MW in 2011, and is backed by GEF Capital, a Washington based private equity investor. The company was listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in August 2024.
Before the Naidupeta commissioning, Premier Energies had an installed capacity of 3.6 GW for cells and 5.4 GW for modules as of January 2026, spread across five facilities in Telangana. With the 7 GW Naidupeta addition, cell capacity has risen to 10.6 GW. The company reports module capacity of 11.1 GW, after starting trial production at its 5.6 GW fully automated module plant at Seetharampur in Telangana in March 2026. Its existing cell lines ran at about 92% utilisation in the recent quarter, which shows strong use of capacity.
The Naidupeta site is central to the company’s integration plan. The larger campus, reported at about 200 acres, is planned to host ingot and wafer production in the next phase. Ingots are large blocks of pure silicon, and wafers are the thin slices cut from them for cells. At present, India has almost no commercial polysilicon output and only about 2 GW of ingot and wafer capacity, so this upstream step matters for import reduction. Premier Energies is pursuing this through a joint venture for wafers and partnerships for aluminium frames, and it has set a Mission 2028 goal of about 10 GW of fully integrated capacity across ingots, wafers, cells and modules, plus entry into battery storage and inverters. Chiranjeev Saluja is the Managing Director of the company (as of September 2026).
Scale has also improved the company’s order position. Premier Energies closed financial year 2025-26 with revenue of about ₹7,824 crore and an order book of about ₹14,010 crore. The company serves independent power producers, engineering and construction firms and government buyers in India and abroad, and it was among the largest Indian cell exporters to the United States in 2023-24.
Solar Cell Manufacturing Landscape in India
India’s module capacity has grown far faster than its cell capacity. This gap is the reason the Naidupeta addition is important. According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), module capacity under the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) List-I rose from about 22 GW in March 2023 to about 213 GW in August 2026. Cell capacity under ALMM List-II, which was first issued on 31 July 2025 with about 13 GW, has risen to about 32 GW. Industry tracker Mercom estimated cumulative capacity in June 2026 at 261.7 GW for modules and 36.6 GW for cells.
ALMM is a quality and localisation gate. Only listed modules can be used in government backed projects. From 1 June 2026, ALMM List-II requires government backed, net metered and open access projects to use domestically made cells. A study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) in May 2026 estimated that TOPCon accounted for only 8.5 GW of India’s 29.66 GW cell capacity at that time, while nearly 172 GW of TOPCon module capacity was approved. The study identified about 22 GW of new TOPCon cell capacity planned by March 2027. This mismatch explains why domestic TOPCon cells command a premium and why integrated makers are expanding quickly.
Policy support has driven this shift. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for High Efficiency Solar Modules has awarded about 48,337 MW of integrated capacity. The government has also applied Basic Customs Duty (BCD) of 40% on imported modules and 27.5% on imported cells, required Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) in schemes such as PM Surya Ghar and PM KUSUM, and exempted duty on specified capital goods for cell and module plants. As a result, solar module imports fell from about $3,363 million in 2021-22 to about $994 million in 2025-26. Gujarat remains the largest hub, with about 45% of module capacity and more than 36% of cell capacity, followed by Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu for modules and Tamil Nadu and Telangana for cells.
The table below places Premier Energies among large domestic makers based on reported operational and near term capacity in 2026. Figures change with commissioning, so they show scale bands rather than exact daily output.
| Manufacturer | Base location | Module scale | Cell scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waaree Energies | Gujarat | About 12 GW to 26 GW | About 5.4 GW, expanding toward 15.4 GW |
| Premier Energies | Telangana and Andhra Pradesh | About 11.1 GW | About 10.6 GW after Naidupeta |
| Adani Solar (Mundra) | Gujarat | About 4 GW to 6 GW | About 4 GW, expanding toward 10 GW |
| Tata Power Solar | Tamil Nadu | About 4.3 GW | About 4.8 GW |
| Vikram Solar | West Bengal and Tamil Nadu | About 3.5 GW to 9.5 GW | New capacity under build up |
| Emmvee | Karnataka | About 10.3 GW | About 2.9 GW, expanding toward 8.9 GW |
Significance and the Way Forward
Premier Energies gains three clear benefits from the Naidupeta plant. First, it becomes India’s largest cell maker by nameplate capacity, which improves its position in bids that require domestic cells. Second, it reduces its need to buy cells from outside for its own 11.1 GW of module lines. Third, it can sell high efficiency N-type cells to standalone module makers who face a shortage of domestic cells in the open market.
For India’s solar supply chain, the addition eases but does not end the cell shortage. Industry estimates show that after integrated makers use cells for their own modules, only about 2,558 MW was left for open sale in early 2026, or less than 2% of standalone module needs. Domestic cell demand under DCR and ALMM rules is expected to rise sharply from about 18 GW in 2025-26 toward 55 GW by 2027-28. New plants need 18 to 24 months to stabilise, secure ALMM listing and reach high yields.
The next steps for Premier Energies are ramp up and backward integration. The company had earlier guided full ramp up by the third quarter of 2026-27. It must lift yield, hold efficiency near 25.8% and qualify the new cell models for ALMM and DCR supply. In parallel, it plans to build ingot and wafer capacity, which needs large capital of about ₹650 crore to ₹700 crore per GW and two to three years to build. If that stage succeeds, the company will move from a cell plus module maker to a fully integrated maker, which will cut import dependence on wafers and improve control over cost and quality.
Key Takeaways
- Premier Energies commissioned its 7 GW N-type TOPCon G12R facility at Naidupeta, Andhra Pradesh on 21 September 2026 and started trial production.
- The company’s total solar cell capacity rose from 3.6 GW to 10.6 GW, making it India’s largest solar cell manufacturer by capacity.
- The 101 acre Naidupeta plant was built at ₹3,293 crore and is designed to make about 88,000 cells per hour at about 25.8% efficiency.
- TOPCon stands for Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact, an N-type cell design that gives higher efficiency and better heat performance than Mono PERC.
- Premier Energies was founded in 1995 in Hyderabad and is headquartered in Secunderabad, Telangana, with module capacity of 11.1 GW after the expansion.
- India’s ALMM listed capacity in August 2026 stood at about 213 GW for modules and about 32 GW for cells, with ALMM List-II cell rules effective from 1 June 2026.
