Solar sector needs new debt instruments to bring down cost of capital, says Rajya Ghei

The Regulators and Policymakers Retreat (RPR) hosted by IPPAI with an overarching theme of 'India meeting the Aspiration' focused on the 360 degrees of the Indian power sector, both the challenges and its solutions.

Eminent panelists like Rajya wardhan Ghei, CEO, Domestic Solar Hindustan Power; Kasi Viswanathan Director, Solon GmbH; Monika Rathi, Head - Business Development Products, Mahindra Susten with the moderator Parag Sharma, COO ReNew Wind Power, debated various points that were impeding the growth of Renewables in India.

Rajya W Ghei, CEO, Hindustan Clean Energy Ltd, said that that there is an urgent need to bring in new debt instruments to reduce the cost of raising capital for setting up solar projects.

The Government has set an ambitious renewable energy target of 175 GW by 2022, of which 100 GW is for solar power.

According to Ghei, while this is an ambitious target, it is still achievable. Further, the tariffs have been falling year on year basis and have now becoming competitive to conventional power and this has brought in lot of acceptance from the discoms.

There has been a delay and reluctance on behalf of states in signing the Purchase Power Agreements (PPAs) which is a cause of concern for the developers.

"Today the power sector is in a state of flux. While the Government has been taking various proactive steps, there are still issues that need to be addressed. Through this conference, we have tried to bring all stakeholders under one roof to deliberate and chalk out a roadmap to make the entire power ecosystem in sync with each other. We are hopeful that through this conference, we would be able to examine the key challenges and discuss possible solutions which can be beneficial to the nation," said Director General IPPAI, Harry Dhaul.

According to Parag Sharma, COO, ReNew Wind Power Pvt. Ltd., who was the moderator of the session, "There has been lot of positives as far as development of renewable power in India is concerned. However, questions need to be asked if the ambitious target of 175 GW by 2022 is possible and how. It is important to address concerns of all stakeholders- developers, sellers as well as regulators.