Tata Power's TP Solar Makes 0.9 GW of Cells and 1 GW of Modules in Q2, Running Its Tirunelveli Plant Near Capacity

India has added solar-module factories at a rapid pace, but cells — the part of a solar panel that actually converts sunlight into electricity — have been the harder, more import-dependent step. A production update from Tata Power this week offers a useful data point on how one of the country's larger integrated cell-and-module plants is performing. TP Solar, the manufacturing arm of Tata Power Renewable Energy (TPREL), produced 1 GW of solar modules and 0.9 GW of solar cells in the July–September 2026 quarter, according to a stock-exchange filing dated 8 October 2026.

The numbers

According to the filing and coverage by pv magazine India, SolarQuarter, PSU Connect and Angel One:

• Q2 FY27 (July–September 2026): about 1 GW of modules and 0.9 GW of cells.
• H1 FY27 (April–September 2026): 2 GW of modules and 1.8 GW of cells.

The output comes from TP Solar's plant at Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, which has an installed capacity of 4.3 GW for cells and modules. Tata Power, through TPREL, has invested about ₹4,300 crore in the facility, SolarQuarter and Angel One reported. The plant uses TOPCon and Mono PERC cell technologies, according to pv magazine India and SolarQuarter.

The modules are listed on the government's Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) and comply with Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) rules, meaning they are built with cells made in India. Coverage also noted that nearly 80% of the plant's workforce are women.

Reading the numbers

On an annualised basis, the first-half figures imply cell output of roughly 3.6 GW a year against a 4.3 GW nameplate — a reasonably high utilisation for a plant that is still relatively new, though quarterly output can vary with demand, maintenance and product mix. For comparison, a Power Technology report on Tata Power's separate upstream plans said TP Solar had produced 2.8 GW of DCR cells and 2.9 GW of modules between April and December 2025, which suggests output has stayed in a similar band.

The cell figure is the more telling one. Many Indian module makers still assemble panels from imported cells, largely from China. Integrated cell production at gigawatt scale is what allows a manufacturer to supply projects that require domestic content — such as those under the PM-KUSUM and rooftop-solar schemes and many government-backed tenders — and it is the segment policymakers most want to grow.

The policy backdrop

India's solar manufacturing push has been driven by a combination of tools: the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for high-efficiency modules, the ALMM list that restricts which modules can be used in many projects, and DCR requirements for subsidised programmes. The government has also extended the ALMM framework to solar cells, through a separate cell list that was scheduled to take effect from June 2026 — a change that makes domestic cell capacity considerably more valuable.

Other domestic manufacturers are also adding cell lines. In September 2026, for instance, Premier Energies commissioned a 7 GW TOPCon cell plant in Andhra Pradesh. Against that backdrop, TP Solar's numbers show steady utilisation rather than a breakthrough, but steady production is exactly what the sector needs to prove after years of announcements.

Why it matters

Each gigawatt of cells made in India reduces exposure to supply shocks and trade restrictions, and keeps more of the value of the energy transition inside the country. The next frontier is further upstream — ingots and wafers — where India's capacity remains thin and dependence on imports is highest. Until that layer is built out, even "domestic" cells rely on imported wafers.

For now, TP Solar's half-year output of 1.8 GW of cells is a concrete measure of progress in one of the harder parts of the solar supply chain, from a plant that is running close to its rated capacity.

Sources

• pv magazine India: http://www.pv-magazine-india.com/2026/10/08/tp-solar-produced-1-gw-of-pv-modules-and-900-mw-cells-in-q2-fy27/
• SolarQuarter: https://solarquarter.com/2026/10/08/tata-powers-tp-solar-manufactures-1-gw-solar-modules-and-0-9-gw-solar-cells-in-q2-fy27-strengthening-domestic-solar-manufacturing/
• Angel One: https://www.angelone.in/news/stocks/tata-power-share-price-in-focus-tp-solar-records-1-gw-module-and-0-9-gw-cell-production-in-q2fy27
• PSU Connect: https://www.psuconnect.in/financial/tata-power-tp-solar-produces-1-gw-modules-0-9-gw-cells-in-q2-fy27
• BSE filing: https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/f81bccb7-bfb7-4d9a-9c97-8f3a16b945ba.pdf
• Power Technology via Yahoo Finance (earlier production context): https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tata-power-unit-plans-10gw-104157469.html