As Tata Power “goes big on renewable energy,” the firm seems optimistic about the exponential growth of the sector in the next four to five years.
“Tata Power is going very big on renewables,” Praveer Sinha, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Tata Power told CNBC-TV18 on May 25. Sinha is confident of the space become the “very biggest” and asserted that it will grow very fast in the next four-five years.
Talking about Tata Power’s projects in the renewable energy sector, Sinha said, “…we will look at putting up a new greenfield manufacturing capability. Our EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) has grown tremendously in the last year.” He added that the firm has a pending order book of around Rs 9,000 crore.
“Rooftop solar and solar pumps are growing at a very fast pace,” Sinha said as he reflected on Tata Power’s projects using solar energy and asserted that they are doubling virtually every year in this business. “So, we have a huge pipeline of activities in renewable,” he added.
Tata Power’s Sinha expects to see 10x growth of the renewable energy sector in the next five to seven years. “We are in the process of implementing nearly 1,200-1,300 megawatt (MW) in this financial year. 500 MW should come in this quarter or early part of next quarter,” he said.
The firm has managed to reduce its debt by Rs 9,000 crore and is now down at Rs 35,000 crore from Rs 43,000 crore. “The immediate task was to deleverage our balance sheet and make it healthier so that we have enough money for our growth,” Sinha said.
Tata Power’s CEO said that the issue of capital raising is still being discussed, “We need to come up with the solution that gives value to our shareholder and also is sustainable in the long run. So at this stage, a lot of discussions (are on) but no decision has been taken yet.”
Source: cnbctv18
