ReNew Power becomes 11th firm globally to reach 5,000-Mw green capacity

ReNew Power has joined the global club of top renewable power generation companies by becoming the eleventh firm to reach 5,000 megawatt (Mw) of installed capacity. Of this, 3,100 Mw is wind and 1,900 Mw is solar.

India’s largest renewable power company on Sunday commissioned a 250 Mw plant in Rajasthan’s Bikaner. The plant with robotic cleaning technology is the second-largest solar firm of ReNew — the first being in Maharashtra. Power from the Bikaner plant would be supplied at Rs 2.72 a kilowatt per hour (unit) to Maharashtra.

“There are 10 other companies globally that have crossed this mark. When we started off eight years back, the largest portfolio was just 150 Mw. The whole scale of the industry has changed dramatically,” Sumant Sinha, chairman and managing director, ReNew Power, told Business Standard.

Sinha said crossing the 5,000-Mw mark was a big achievement, which was made possible because of opportunities, size of the market, and the government’s push.

ReNew’s capacity in India is followed by 3,700 Mw of Greenko, 2,700 Mw of Tatas, 2,300 Mw of Adani, and 2,000 Mw of ACME.

The company would be achieving 8,000 Mw capacity in another eight months, with additional 3,000 Mw coming largely from tenders of NTPC and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

Currently, the company has utility scale units in eight states, including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. In 20 states, the company has distributed solar capacity.

ReNew Power was founded by Sinha in 2011 and is currently backed by Goldman Sachs, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, among other investors.

In 2018, the company bought 1,100 Mw of wind and solar power assets of Ostro Energy, which was one of the biggest acquisitions in the Indian renewable energy space.

According to Sinha, the total share of NTPC and SECI capacity would jump from the current 10 per cent to 40 per cent for the company when it reaches 8,000 Mw.

The next 3,000-Mw capacity is already under construction. “We have fairly advanced in it and issues in Andhra Pradesh will not impact. We will still have significant cash flows for the company,” he added. At 8,000 Mw, the Andhra Pradesh project would be less than 10 per cent of the company’s portfolio.

ReNew is among those green power companies that have been impacted by the Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to revisit power purchase agreements signed by the state’s previous government.

Under a court order, Andhra Pradesh’s distribution companies were asked to immediately pay a tariff at Rs 2.44 to ReNew Power till the disposal of the matter by the state regulator. It has also directed the state to avoid curtailing generation from the company’s plants without issuing any prior notice.