Hyderabad, Jul 29 (IANS): Premier Energies, one of India's leading Solar PV Cells and Module manufacturing company, on Thursday opened its new facility built at a cost of Rs.483 crore here and announced plans to invest another Rs 1,200 crore in next two years.

The facility, India's second largest and South India's biggest, currently employs 700 people and it aims to provide employment to 2000 more.

Telangana's industry minister K.T. Rama Rao and education minister P. Sabitha Indra Reddy jointly inaugurated the state-of-the-art facility at E-City in Rangareddy district on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

The new manufacturing unit, a greenfield project with a capacity of 750 MW solar cell and 750 MW solar module, will produce MCCE textured multi-crystalline cells and modules, Mono PERC cells and modules as well as 19.2 per cent efficiency polycrystalline cells and modules.

Chiranjeev Saluja, Founder and Managing Director, Premier Energies Premier Energy will be the second largest integrated facility in India with capacity to manufacture both modules and cells. Going forward the plan is to be a 3 GW facility. "With the current facility we are almost touching 1 GW, we have plans to invest another Rs 500 crore in the coming four months to add another Giga Watt and another Rs 500 crore in the next financial year, the idea is to be a 3 GW facility with 1.75 GW module and 1.25 GW cell. We will be spending Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 crore in the next two years," he said.

Rama Rao said the state government was giving top priority to renewable energy sector. He pointed out that Telangana stands at second position in the country in solar energy production.

He stated that during the past 7 years, 15,000 companies invested Rs 2,25,000 crore in Telangana. He claimed that 80 per cent of these companies are already operationalized.

The plant has been designed to produce latest generation products by incorporating Monocrystalline PERC technology. This technology will usher change by increasing the wafer size to 182 mm and 210 mm.