Hyderabad-based Goldstone Infratech (formerly Goldstone Teleservices), the country's largest manufacturer and supplier of composite insulators, has formed a joint venture with TF SolarPower and Korea-based equipment supplier Jusung Engineering to set up a Rs 2,800 crore thin-film photovoltaic panels (PV) manufacturing unit in Hyderabad.

While Goldstone will hold a 54 per cent stake in the JV project, the first fab in any kind at the Fab City in Hyderabad, TF SolarPower and Jusung will jointly hold the remaining.

The JV will leverage the expertise of TF SolarPower, a company promoted by June Min of South Korean firm Intellect Inc that had set up foundry semiconductor fabs for fabless companies in the US, China and South Korea, for the execution of the project.

It will deploy Jusung's patented 3D cell design and manufacturing technology for making thin-film PV panels.

"The PV plant will have a capacity to produce 350 megawatt with an estimated project cost of Rs 2,800 crore over the next 4-5 years. This could be scaled up to 1,000 mw involving an investment of Rs 16,000 crore after a certain period of time," NK Rawal, chief executive officer, GoldStone Group of Companies, told mediapersons here on Monday.

"The initial fab capacity will be 52 mw with an investment of Rs 600 crore for the first fab of the project with the debt-equity ratio of 1.5:1. We are in the process of raising funds through internal accruals and equity expansion in Goldstone," Rawal said, adding construction work on the project had already begun and the first batch of PV panel products will be delivered in the first quarter of 2009.