Gentari to offer battery energy storage solutions to Indian C&I consumers

New Delhi: Gentari, the renewable energy subsidiary of Malaysian state-run energy giant Petronas, will offer battery storage services to its commercial and industrial (C&I) customers in India and continue investments in green energy through partnerships, a top company official said.

"Depending upon the needs of the customers and what type of settlement or what sort of a supply they need, we would be open to evaluating those (storage) options. Let's say over the next 12 to 18 months if these requirements are fructifying based on bilateral contracts, then we would be looking at storage options," Navjit Gill, Gentari Renewables India country head, told Mint in an exclusive interview. He added that Gentari would continue to look at each project individually and evaluate the right type of energy storage solutions.

Gentari Renewables India is a local subisidiary of Gentari.

He also said that the company is open to partnerships with organizations in the renewable energy space, as India expands production and adoption of green energy. Gill said that the company, which has established itself in India through inorganic growth and acquisitions, is now ready to go ahead with greenfield projects of its own.

"We have a very mature organization in C&I. We are one of the market leaders with 1.8 gigawatt in C&I space. And we have all the attributes for developing this business organically in-house," Gill told Mint.

However, the company would continue to look at acquisition opportunities both in the C&I and utility spaces. Mint earlier reported that Gentari Sdn Bhd is planning a minority fund raise in its proposed commercial and industrial (C&I) projects in an equity deal valued at around $400 million.

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Owing to an improvement in recovery of receivables from power distribution companies (discoms) in India, Gentari will "continue to evaluate the utility business, mainly at the central utilities," Gill said. "If there are certain opportunities for the utility bids, then we will certainly evaluate them and look forward on those," he added.

Gentari majorly caters to C&I customers in the renewable energy space, Gill said, adding that the company would evaluate bids coming from central government public service undertakings (CPSUs). "Going forward, we would evaluate the bids which are coming out in the CPSU space and could be looking at those too," Gill said.

Gentari has been scooping up assets. Earlier this year, it emerged as the winning bidder for the Indian solar projects of Finland’s Fortum Oyj totalling 185MW. The deal is worth an enterprise value of around $200 million and an equity value of around $150 million. It has also announced its $1.5 billion investment in AM Green Ammonia Holdings, and an equal joint venture (JV) with ReNew Energy Global Plc to develop 5 GW capacity.

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Speaking about India's position among global peers in the renewable energy domain, Gill said that it is one of the top renewable energy markets in the world, and attributed growth in the sector to regulatory policies as well as the financing opportunities available in the country.

"As far as the sector is concerned in the country, it is a pretty matured sector now, as far as the electron business (power generation business) is concerned, the renewable energy business is concerned," Gill said. The growth is due to "the government initiatives, the policy measures, the regulatory (norms), the availability of the ISTS (inter-state transmission system) network, as far as the grid is concerned, and even the structure of the financing institutions - it is a very evolved structure," Gill added. The ISTS network refers to inter-state transmission system, a network of transmission lines carrying electricity from one state to another.

Gentari Renewables expects to produce five million tonnes of green ammonia in the country - to produce one million tonnes of green hydrogen, in partnership with other companies, Gill said, adding that this would constitute 20% of India's green hydrogen target. The government's National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) aims to produce five million tonnes of green hydrogen every year by 2030.