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One of India's largest single-site solar cell facilities, co-located with Vikram Solar's module plant at Gangaikondan, takes the company from module maker to integrated manufacturer, with wafers next

 Vikram Solar Limited, one of India's leading solar PV manufacturers, today announced that its 9-GW N-type TOPCon solar cell manufacturing facility at SIPCOT Industrial Park, Gangaikondan, Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, is on schedule to produce its first cells in December 2026. The full 9 GW will be commissioned in phases thereafter.

India has built world-class module capacity in record time, yet the cell inside most Indian modules is still imported. Cells are the largest component of a module's bill of materials and the stage where efficiency, reliability and cost are decided. Gangaikondan addresses that dependence directly: at full capacity, it will supply high-efficiency TOPCon cells for the majority of Vikram Solar's module production. It will enable modules made in India from cell to frame for the country's utility-scale, rooftop, PM Surya Ghar and PM-KUSUM programs where domestic content requirements apply, as well as for global customers diversifying their supply chains. The company intends to seek ALMM List-II enlistment for cells produced at Gangaikondan in due course.

The cell plant is the second of three phases in Vikram Solar's integration roadmap at Gangaikondan. The first, the 6 GW module plant, was inaugurated by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in August 2026; and the third being a 9 GW ingot and wafer facility, that is board-approved and targeted for FY29. Within the cell phase, capacity is planned to expand to 12 GW.

On completion, Gangaikondan will be one of the few sites in India where ingots, wafers, cells and modules are made together. The campus will provide more than 2000 direct & indirect employment. The facility is being developed through the company's wholly owned subsidiary, VSL Green Power Private Limited, on its nearly 200-acre integrated campus, where co-location shortens supply cycles, tightens quality control and lowers logistics cost.

Gyanesh Chaudhary, Chairman & Managing Director, Vikram Solar, said: “Indian module makers, including us, have built their businesses around imported cells. Gangaikondan ends that for Vikram Solar. Cells are where the value, the technology and the risk in a module sit, and in December we start making them here. It is the most important step in our integration journey, and not the last: our roadmap runs from wafer to module, on Indian soil.”

Gangaikondan at a glance

* Location: SIPCOT Industrial Park, Gangaikondan, Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu; nearly 200-acre integrated campus

* Cell capacity: 9 GW N-type TOPCon; first cells December 2026; full 9 GW commissioned in phases thereafter; planned expansion to 12 GW

* Module plant on site: 6 GW, inaugurated August 2026

* Next phase: 9 GW ingot and wafer facility, board-approved, targeted FY29

* Employment: 2000 direct and indirect employment on campus

* Developing entity: VSL Green Power Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vikram Solar Limited

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