Milestone

ENGIE Commissions 200 MW Raghanesda Solar Project

ENGIE has announced the commissioning of a 200 MWAC (290 MWp) Solar Power Project at the Raghanesda Solar Power Park, in Raghanesda, Gujarat. ENGIE collaborated with multiple Government of Gujarat entities to construct the project that will generate close to 546 gigawatt-hours of electricity. The project was won under a tender process run by GUVNL and the Power Purchase Agreement for 25 years was signed in August 2019 with GUVNL (Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited), and the Implementation Support Agreement was signed in October 2019 with GPCL (Gujarat Power Corporation Limited). Debt for the project has been secured under a long-term project financing arrangement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Societe Generale. The project has been implemented through an Electro Solaire Private Limited (ESPL), a special purpose vehicle owned by the ENGIE Group.

Modules were sourced from Jinko and Longi and String while inverters were procured from Huawei. Sterling & Wilson were the Balance of Plant contractor and will also be the O&M provider for this project for a period of five years.

The project was completed in 14 months, adhering to the environment standard of ADB Safeguard Principle and Equator Principle, with 1.5 million+ safe man-hours by over 800 skilled and unskilled manpower setting up the plant, which is spread across 380 hectares inside the Raghanesda Solar Park that has been developed by a Gujarat state entity – GPCL. Despite the challenges of executing a project during a global pandemic, a very high-water table creating a challenging design and implementation issue for the module mounting structures, and the project being situated in a seismic zone, the team of experts ensured the completion of the project in line with the schedule.

With this project, ENGIE’s portfolio developed in India now stands at 17 projects with over 1.1 GWp of solar PV and 280 MW of wind power. This milestone reiterates ENGIE’s ambition to be a major renewable energy provider, as India becomes a rapidly growing market in the transition to clean energy.

100 GW Renewable Energy Milestone Achieved, Much Work Ahead In India

In self-congratulatory messages sent out yesterday, Power Minister R.K. Singh highlighted the key milestone of 100 GW of renewable energy capacity, excluding large Hydro, that has been reached in India. After including large Hydro, the number goes right up to 146 GW.

According to India's power ministry, India now stands at fourth position after China, the USA, and Japan in terms of installed renewable energy capacity. Fifth in solar and Fourth in wind in terms of installed capacity.

While 100 GW has been installed, 50 GW is under installation and 27 GW is under tendering according to records. With a 450 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030, the milestone on the road to 450 GW should be welcomed, for the huge achievement it undoubtedly is. There is zero doubt that if the country had been provided with this possibility even a decade ago when it set a target of 20 GW of solar by now, it would have been considered preposterous. But falling solar prices, a concerted effort to clear the way for their installation, and the natural evolution of the market have made the number possible today.

Dr Ajay Mathur, Director, International Solar Alliance had this to say. "A huge accomplishment ! And India has gone from 10 GW to 100 GW in just 15years, between 2005 and 2021. It highlights the success that is achieved with simultaneous, strengthening availability of both equity and debt, of human and organizational capacity in the solar, financial and policy sectors, and of continuously tweaking business models in light of advances in solar technologies, investments, and markets".

Along the way, the country has learned some hard lessons on the challenges ahead, along with a precious experience that could open up bigger opportunities providing power-related services to the world as far as renewable energy goes. One of the biggest outcomes has been the current push to make in India, as the country tries to reclaim a key role as a solar equipment manufacturer too, something that was ceded to China almost completely over the past decade. Repeated across multiple countries, in fact. That dependence is considered too risky today, especially with a significant road to be covered on the road to an energy system that is not only electrically driven but mostly renewable energy powered by 2050 or 2060 at most.

These 5 Firms Moved To Solar in 2021. How Many Will Follow?

Indian corporates across energyintensive sectors are increasingly adopting solar for captive use, the latter comprising a solar power plant that is deployed by a company for its own consumption.

That is, power generated by such a solar power plant is consumed entirely by the developing company itself. For instance, Mumbai-headquartered auto major Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. is adopting a 58 MWp captive solar plant that is expected to generate about 100 million units of power annually beginning 2022.

The following list consists of five major Indian companies currently on their way to going solar. The question arises, how many will follow in their footsteps?

Anupam Rasayan India Limited

Founded in 1984, this company is engaged in the custom synthesis and manufacturing of specialty chemicals in India for activities related to agrochemicals, personal care, pharmaceuticals, pigment and dyes, polymer additives, etc. With 6 manufacturing sites located in Gujarat, the firm now aims to adopt green growth.

The chemical manufacturing company announced in May this year that it will invest Rs 43 crore to set up a 12.5 MW solar power plant in an attempt to lower its carbon footprint and save on electricity costs in the long term. The proposed solar plant is expected to help save around Rs. 10 crore per annum for the next 25 years.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited

Known for its popular small city car Maruti 800, the company was founded in 1981 as Maruti Udyog Limited and was later acquired from the Indian government by the Suzuki Motor Cooperation in 2003 following a partnership between Suzuki and the State Bank of India. The firm has been the market leader in India for over 3 decades now.

In June last year, the Indian automotive manufacturer commissioned a 5 MW carport style solar power plant in Gurugram, with an investment of more than Rs 20 crore. The solar power project is expected to offset 5,390 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually for the next 25 years. while giving an output of 7,010 MWh of power per year.

The company had set up its first solar plant of 1 MW at the Manesar facility in 2014, which was further upgraded to 1.3 MW in 2018. The firm has also reportedly added a massive carport of 15 MW, that should be announced formally soon. That will take its total renewable solar capacity to almost 22 MW.

Tata Motors

This Indian automobile giant was established in 1868 and today produces a variety of vehicles like passenger cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses, sports cars, construction equipment and military vehicles. While the company made iconic Indian vehicles such as Tata Indica, Tata Sumo, and Tata Safari in the early parts of the millennium, and is now the market leader in the nascent EV category with its Nexon range.

Rising from a smallish market share of 4.6 percent in 2016, and 4.8 percent in 2020, Tata Motors is now India’s third-largest carmaker, according to Forbes, boasting a market share of well over 9 percent in the world’s fourth-largest automobile market. In FY21, the company sold 222,025 units of passenger vehicles, a 69 percent growth in comparison to the year-ago period. It also owns and manufactures the iconic Jaguar Land Rover range of vehicles.

In June this year, Tata Motors and Tata Power jointly inaugurated India’s largest grid-synchronized, behind-the-meter solar carport at the Tata Motors car plant in Chikhali, Pune. The 6.2 MWp solar carport deployed by Tata Power will generate 86.4 lakh kWh of electricity per year and is estimated to help reduce 7,000 tons of carbon emissions annually and 1.6 lakh tons over its lifecycle. Vaibhav Global Limited

This Jaipur-based jewellery and accessories manufacturer was founded in 1980. It has electronic retail units: Shop LC formerly Liquidation Channel in the US & Canada and TJC formally The Jewellery Channel in UK & Ireland, whose combined reach is 123 million households.

In June this year, Vaibhav Global announced that it had become a 100 percent solar-powered company. Two of the company’s primary manufacturing facilities will now be powered by electricity generated by the company's self-owned and operated solar plants. Surplus power would be distributed to local community resources. VGL’s solar journey started in 2014 with the installation of rooftop solar power panels in one of the Jaipur manufacturing plants. After that a fully operational solar PV power generation project under captive use was commissioned in Bikaner-Rajasthan. The recently added plant takes VGLs solar power capacity to 3.23 MW and will address 100 percent of its power requirements for two of the Jaipur manufacturing facilities.

Kajaria Ceramics Limited

Founded 30 years ago, this is a reputed ceramic wall and floor tile manufacturing company, which offers over 2800 options, including many vitrified and designer tiles. It has an annual aggregate capacity of 70.40 mn. sq. meters, distributed across eight plants in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

Yesterday, the company announced its plans to invest up to Rs. 264 Lakhs in an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) for solar power captive consumption as required under the provisions of Electricity Act, 2003. The SPV is to be formed by a solar plant company, CleanMax Enviro Energy Solutions Private Ltd.

As these firms, across several sectors, demonstrate that there is no time like the present when it comes to shifting consumption away from fossil fuel-powered backup to solar. With battery storage costs also set to come down to a level that is below typical diesel generation costs, the scope for firms to shift in a bigger way is immense.

PM's I Day Speech-Is India Hurting Itself By Thinking Too Far Ahead?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has a somewhat well earned reputation for making momentous announcements on days when he is the focus of attention, did not disappoint when it came to his Independence day speech. Calling for the country to be free of energy imports by 2047, he went on to announce a National Hydrogen Mission. The idea being to make the country a hub of green hydrogen manufacturing, that can potentially make it an energy exporter, rather than spend the Rs 12 lakh crore it does currently on energy imports.

Keep in mind that early in March 2015, Mr Modi had set the country a target of reducing its oil imports dependence from 77 percent of consumption to 67 percent by 2022, ie, next year. We have however, moved to over 80 percent dependence currently.

What the country has achieved in the meantime is a milestone of 100 GW of renewable energy. Perhaps it is time for the government to focus more on this creditable achievement and maintaining momentum, rather than long term plans on Hydrogen, which will go through the full cycle of tech innovation, disruptions and more, before we see projections for a 3/4th share of Hydrogen produced globally being green hydrogen.

A higher share of renewable energy will actually create the conditions necessary for an easier green hydrogen focus, when the time is right.

We have highlighted in a detailed story in June about how only 3 stories are worth tracking, when it comes to tracking India's progress on the energy front. India's progress on its ethanol blending plans, the massive CBG (Compressed Bio Gas) initiative, and its progress on building quality solar energy capacity.

IPO Time For India Solar Equipment Manufacturers In 2021

After a long wait, initial reports are finally coming out regarding plans by major Indian solar equipment manufacturers planning Initial Public Offers. We refer to a long wait simply because the markets have been buoyant for a while now, and have duly been followed by an IPO wave the likes of which has rarely been seen before. We have written earlier about how a key area of difference is the access for foreign counterparts to public markets, even as Indian manufacturers have fallen behind. In fact, pure play manufacturing, or manufacturing led solar firms are completely missing, as firms like Adani Green Energy, Sterling and Wilson Solar are more developer/EPC category.

A major reason for the move to consider tapping public markets might also be the impending entry of Reliance Industries with its solar manufacturing setup, expected to start entering in phases from 2023 onwards. We covered this issue earlier. Access to capital markets might just support a speeding up of expansion and marketing plans before Reliance starts making a significant impact.

With massive loss making digital firms like Zomato (successfully listed), Paytm (next in line) and more lining up on the basis of growth promises, firms across sectors like chemicals, metals and more have rushed to market. It was only a matter of time before solar manufacturing majors would also make their move. A report published in business paper Mint indicates that Vikram Solar and Waaree Energies might be the first two to make their move now.

For Waaree, it may be a different route, as it already has an EPC focused subsidiary, Waaree Renewable Technologies Limited (Formerly Sangam Renewables Limited) listed. For the record, Waaree Energies Limited had closed 2019-20 with a turnover of 1995 crores, and profit after tax of 57 crores.

For the Rs 1651 crore turnover (2019-20) Vikram Solar, as the contours of a broad growth strategy finally fall into place, and 15 years after it started its solar journey, the time seems right for the move too. The firm is currently the largest manufacturer of modules (2.5 GW) in India, after the inauguration of its 1.3 GW facility in Tamil Nadu last month.

Both these firms have a large enough balance sheet, with large turnovers , and are profitable. With the massive projections in place for solar capacity growth, and the buffer of a high duty structure to protect from Chinese imports starting April 2022, this is probably the best time to go public, if you are a solar manufacturer in India. Interestingly, both seem to have plans in the pipeline for a while now, as the existence of an investors section on their corporate websites denotes. Both have done well enough to create thriving export markets for their output, building a reputation for quality too.

The sector has possibly struggled to make it big in the public markets due to its high dependence on government policy for protection against imports. Or most of the capacity growth. Or the fact that government enterprises continue to play a key role in the broader energy and solar sector. A stronger rooftop solar market, where private sector enterprise and marketing can truly come into its own, would have helped, but that is the one segment that has underperformed relatively, as far as solar growth goes in the past 5 years.

Besides India's ambitious targets and commitments for the next decade, which entail solar capacity additions of almost 25 GW per annum, a major manufacturing expansion is underway, powered expectedly by government incentives and tariff protection. Quality manufacturers need to grab this opportunity, as the downside risk of protection, poor accountability for quality and performance is too high to be left to a large, opaque private manufacturers market.

The big question now is, what kind of valuations can these solar firms command, considering the risks that remain, especially the continued dependence on imports for key inputs, from wafers to even cells. This is a risk that none other than Waaree Groups Chairman and Managing Director, Dr. Hitesh Doshi highlighted in his column on SaurEnergy recently. Dr Doshi must have seen some significant improvements, if he is finally considering an IPO.

Iron-based Batteries' Future Looks Bright As Tesla Weighs In

Of late, leading executives in the automotive sector have been indicating a reversion to older, cheaper lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries in their products. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has recently spoken of such a shift in the company's energy storage devices and some entry-level EVs. Additionally, Ford CEO Jim Farley has said the company would use LFP batteries in some commercial vehicles, and Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess has announced that use of LFP in some VW entry-level EVs.

This change is most concentrated in the Chinese automotive industry today. While outside China, nickel-based batteries are largely in use due to their higher energy density that improves battery range, the country's current monopoly on LFP draws from key patents that are managed by a consortium of academic research institutions. This consortium came to an agreement with Chinese battery makers a decade ago under which the manufacturers would not be charged a licensing fee providing that the LFP batteries were used only in Chinese markets. With the blessings of the Chinese Communist party of course.

In general, LFP battery cells are very lucrative because they are cheap and do not require rare materials like cobalt and nickel. If adopted by the EV market, LFP batteries would go a long way in accelerating its growth by reducing EV costs. An added bonus with avoiding cobalt is avoiding the horrendous supply lines that metal comes through, involving deep exploitation, monopoly miners and worse.

As Chinese LFP patents will expire in 2022, non-Chinese battery manufacturers are expecting to get an opportunity to shift their production to iron-based formulas. Even though European and North American battery factories are currently focused on nickelbased chemistries, as a result of their partnership with major South Korean auto companies, we can expect some capacity addition in North America in the coming years. The US is fortunate in this regard since iron and phosphoric acid, required for LFP, are locally manufactured in large quantities.

The main point of attraction in LFP batteries is that they dramatically reduce the overall cost of a vehicle. It makes sense then to expect leading automakers like Tesla to use iron-based batteries primarily in the production of entry-level and lowcost vehicles. Higher-end and performance cars, on the other hand, would still come with nickel-based batteries. Regardless, the odds of expanding LFP capacity are stacked in North America and Europe's favour.

India's Solar and Wind Generation in Q1, 2021, Versus Q1, 2020 Results for Solar, Wind Generation

We believe it is time the focus on solar and wind shifted to generation, not just capacity building. Because generation is eventually what matters, what contributes to carbon emissions reductions. And yes, finally, dependable data on the subject is available, thanks to the much more timely CEA, as well as options like the India Renewables Dashboard. So lets jump in by starting with the Q1 of 2021.

In Q1 2021 (Apr-May-June) quarter, Solar + Wind generated 38665 million units of power to the country's overall energy mix. This is an over16.1% growth over the 33282 million units that these two key renewable segments generated in Q1, 2020.

Within the figures for Q1 in 2021, Solar had a share of 18123 million units, or just around 46 percent of the total. Despite solar having overtaken wind in total capacity installations. The same share for solar in 2020 was close to 46% only, indicting the impact of seasonal performance perhaps. Best indicated by the Spike in Wind generation in June, even as solar stagnated.

2020 April May June Solar 5353 5618 4703 Wind 3474 6238 7896

2021 April May June Solar 6122 5995 6006 Wind 3734 7083 9725

Solar And Wind Generation, MU (Million Units)

With Solar and wind accounting for over 80% of RE generation, we believe it makes sense to focus on these two, for now. At some stage, if the government provided data is robust and consistent enough, we will provide you with a detailed analysis of statewise performance too, and perhaps even the top performing projects.