White LEDs and solar PV cells manufacturing base; the critical component for India's energy needs

In rural India, the electricity is used for two major purposes one is for agriculture pumpsets and other is for lighting. For India to achieve developed status by 2020 the rural India should not be power starved by that time. Everybody knows solar and opto-semiconductor products such as white LEDs are the best answer both to power pumpset as well as lighting. But the question is how to develop the indigenous solar cell technologies and related electronic technologies so that the import bill can be reduced. The two key materials in solar and lighting are photovoltaic solar cells and high brightness LEDs. If we look at China, They have achieved self-sufficiency in both solar cells and white LED and in fact exporting lot of them. Both these require good knowledge of semiconductor technologies derived from Semiconductor chip manufacturing. So India should invest in semiconductor technologies not only for IT and industry growth but also for rural economy growth.

The present happening in this sector is not disappointing. Government has cleared 12 investment proposals related to solar cell and module manufacturing. There are also media reports that 6 of these 12 namely Moser Baer, KSK Surya Photovoltaic Ventures, Lanco Solar, Bhaskar Silicon and Solar Semiconductors have receiver financial closures.
Though most of this investment is in solar PVs but over the time these investors can expand to semiconductor chip manufacturing.

On the LEDs front there is one lone presence, De Core Science and Technologies with its expertise in designing optoelectronic application specific semiconductor devices using advanced material such as Aluminum Indium Gallium Nitride is soon to produce LEDs from its India's first advanced semiconductor fab (AlInGaN facility) at Noida Special Economic Zone, in the city of Noida. As per some of the media reports, De Core is also planning to establish semiconductor chip fabrication plant in Gandhinagar, Gujarat to make chips for driving LEDs.

What's missing is no presence of any silicon and other semiconductor base material manufacturing facility in India. This will hamper the industry to some extent.