BackWaaree Renewable eyes power generation
The solar engineering, procurement and construction subsidiary of the Waaree Group is in talks with potential partners but no progress has been made so far.
PremiumNew Delhi: Waaree Renewable Technologies Ltd is looking to venture into power generation, aligning with India’s drive towards renewable energy, said Hitesh Mehta, executive director and chief financial officer, Waaree Renewable, in an interview.
The company is in talks with potential partners, however, no definitive progress has so far been made, he added.
Waaree Renewable Technologies is the solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) subsidiary of the Waaree Group that is involved in ownership, financing, construction as well as operation of solar projects.
“Not much focus on independent power producer (IPP) side as of now. Definitely once we get some opportunity, we get a good player who intends to join us for the IPP business in that case we can think about it in a big way... (with) somebody who intends to come as a partner and also with a good amount of capital," he added.
“We are looking for partners, talking to people, but as of now nothing is on the table."
The company’s plan to foray into power generation business comes amid India’s efforts to expand renewable energy capacity significantly to realize its ambitious net zero target.
India’s installed capacity of green energy is at 173.619 GW while the government aims to reach 500 GW in renewables by 2030. Currently, the company’s operations and maintenance (O&M) portfolio of solar power assets stands at over 490 MW.
In the solar EPC space, the company has about 70% of its operations in the utility segment, and 30% is in commercial and industrial (C&I) space, Mehta said. Going forward, the company would focus on adding more and more utility projects and the ratio of projects in utility and C&I would largely remain the same.
As part of its diversification plans, Waaree is also exploring opportunities in green hydrogen and is in the process of setting up a 1 MW plant as a pilot project, he added.
In its investor presentation, the company said: “National Green Hydrogen Mission promotes commercialization and scaling up of electrolyzer technologies by establishing GH2 component manufacturing facility in India. Our group is open to investing and collaborating with technology partners and other hydrogen value chain stakeholders for an electrolyzer gigafactory, besides exploring opportunities for a hydrogen valley in India." It is also exploring opportunities in hybrid renewable energy.
“We are surely thinking about entering for this hybrid solution where people are talking about more about the wind and solar or solar with any other (renewable energy). We are talking to some of the players in the industry and we are expecting some amount of the orders this year," Mehta said. The company also is looking at expanding its international portfolio. “In Vietnam we have done a project of 50 MW in 2021 and we are looking for more projects outside India....Vietnam and African countries."
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