Kolkata: The West Bengal government has allotted about 54.20 acres of land to Websol Energy System Limited at Falta Industrial Park for a greenfield solar manufacturing facility, the company said in a statement. The plant is planned with 4 GW of solar cell capacity and 4 GW of solar module capacity, and it will be built in two phases of 2 GW each.
Follow Energy Watch on X
The site sits close to Websol's existing manufacturing operations at the Falta Special Economic Zone. The company said it chose the location after evaluating sites near that plant. Staying in West Bengal gives it "a readily available base of skilled manpower, established supplier relationships, and deep familiarity with the local ecosystem," according to the statement. Websol expects these to support "faster execution than a facility built in an entirely new location".
Sohan Lal Agarwal, Chairman and Managing Director of Websol, linked the allotment to the company's early years in the sector. "When Websol entered solar manufacturing in the mid-1990s, the industry in India was still at a very early stage," he said. "Today, solar is becoming an increasingly important part of the country's energy infrastructure, and the need for strong domestic manufacturing has never been clearer."
He described the land as the start of a larger scale of operations. "For us, this land allotment represents the next phase of a journey that began more than three decades ago in West Bengal. It allows us to build at a significantly larger scale while remaining close to an ecosystem, workforce and operating base we know well."
Agarwal also argued that manufacturing needs to be spread out geographically. "As India expands its solar capacity, we believe manufacturing must grow alongside it, across regions and closer to demand. This project is Websol's contribution to building that deeper domestic manufacturing base."
Executive Director Sanjana Khaitan said the work now moves from land to production. "The real focus now is execution — moving from land allotment to construction, commissioning and utilisation," she said.
She added that the company would judge its growth by output rather than nameplate capacity. "We have always believed that growth should be measured not just by installed capacity, but by how efficiently that capacity translates into production, delivery and revenue. That is the approach we will continue to follow as we work towards our 2028 targets."
Websol was founded in 1990 and makes solar cells and modules based on Mono PERC technology. Its Falta SEZ plant currently has 1,200 MW of cell capacity and 550 MW of module capacity, and it can process wafers of up to 210 mm. The company sells its cells mainly within India, where they help module makers meet Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) norms. It sells its modules both in India and abroad.
Follow Energy Watch on LinkedIN
The company says it is one of only 14 solar cell manufacturers on the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) and the only one based in eastern India.