At a time when vacuum tube technology is capturing larger shares of India’s solar collector market, one company has been successfully challenging the import competition: Bhagyanagar India Limited (BIL), India’s biggest fin-tube absorber manufacturer. According to the company’s Managing Director, Devendra Surana, the firm increased production volume by 50 % over the last two years, from 149,000 m² of absorber area in 2011 to 225,000 m² in 2013. BIL boasts 4 coating lines and 11 welding machines, and it has recently added a collector assembly site. The photo shows N. Venkateshwara Rao, Vice President of BIL, inspecting an ultrasonic-welding machine.
An open source database to support investment in solar thermal technologies through improved transparency on costs and heat prices in buildings and industry.