Tata Power recently commenced production of solar cell at the country’s largest single location 4.3 GW solar cell and module manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu. Currently, the plant has operational capacity of 2 GW and remaining capacity is expected to be added soon. Tata Power’s managing director and chief operating officer Praveer Sinha tells Raghavendra Kamath about the company’s upcoming projects and plans.
In an earnings call earlier this year you said Tata Power would look at thermal projects selectively. Have you made any progress on that front?
No progress has been made yet. The company is not looking at greenfield projects. We will look at projects that combine solar and wind with thermal.
Recent reports said you are seeking bids for supply of wind turbines from large suppliers, which is one of the largest wind turbine orders. What is the progress on that?
When we are doing hybird (solar plus wind), we have to buy wind turbines. We are already implementing 1 GW of wind projects. Currently, we are procuring from Siemens Gamesa. We will give the order for another 1 GW in December.
Analysts said your FY27 PAT targets could be delayed as it hinges on completion on meeting renewable target and commissioning of solar manufacturing plant. What do you think about it?
We are at a profit of Rs 2,700 crore without the exception item. We will meet the target. We are going to achieve whatever target we have.
Compared to peers in renewable energy, Tata Power seems to be going slow in setting its targets for clean energy portfolio and reaching those goals. What is the rationale behind it?
Not really. We have so many businesses. Renewables is one business. We also do transmission and distribution, pumped storage projects, hybrid and so on, but others are in specific areas. We plan in such a way that we will have calibrated growth. We are careful about margins and returns. We plan accordingly and go ahead with it.
What is your plans for the solar EPC and rooftop solar business?
In solar EPC, we are doing 2.5-3 GW of renewable projects, a mix of solar and wind, every year. Currently, we are doing internal projects and some external projects. We will reduce the share of third-party projects as there are so many internal projects. We want to be end-to-end connect of our supply of modules and cells, have our own EPC and have our own generation capacity. Solar rooftop has done very well compared to last year. The
segment will grow further in the coming quarters. In the solar rooftop business, we have tied up with Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha. In each of these states, we will do 1 million homes in rooftop over the next three years.
There will be a lot of traction in this area from the fourth quarter onwards. In the first and second quarter, we have done 111 MW each, about 40% more compared to last year.
Are you looking at any new pumped storage projects (PSP) now?
We are beginning the work on the Bhivpuri PSP project, which will come up in next 44 months. For this, the company’s board has given the approval to raise funds of around `5,600 crore. We will also start the 1,800 MW
Shirota project by mid-next year, which will take 46 months to complete. We are also beginning the work
on the 600 MW Khorlochhu hydro project in Bhutan. With these, we will be able to have 24×7 clean energy. So, we have enough in hand. We will first execute them.
From: financialexpress
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