Confident that the entry of big brands will shape the future of the renewable energy sector, Hero Future Energies (HFE) is placing equal bets on wind and solar power. The company will also look at hydro power depending on the opportunity, its senior management told Business Standard.
“Big announcements have helped the sector. SunEdison has expanded its plans; SoftBank has committed a large investment. We finally have resources in the sector with major names claiming to invest upwards of billion dollars. In the next two years, we (wind and solar industry) are going to pull off 10,000 Mw on the ground,” said Rahul Munjal, managing director, HFE.
HFE has scaled up to a portfolio of 250 Mw in just two years. It has a pipeline of around 1,000 Mw of wind power projects across seven states for the coming year.
“In grid-connected solar projects, we would like to see how the excitement of these big boys pans out. If they under-bid or undercut the market with low prices, then we will stay mostly with wind,” said Munjal. The company is assessing potential of hydro projects but has not closed any deal yet.
“Hydro power is something we are interested in a lead-stage acquisition. As a strategic decision, we would not invest in any greenfield hydro projects,” said Munjal. By 2019 the company plans to set up 2 Gw of renewable energy, likely to be 50 per cent solar and 50 per cent wind. “But we are flexible towards both. We don’t want to bid in projects for the sake of it. We are a Hero group company and bottom line does matter to us,” Munjal added.
“Big announcements have helped the sector. SunEdison has expanded its plans; SoftBank has committed a large investment. We finally have resources in the sector with major names claiming to invest upwards of billion dollars. In the next two years, we (wind and solar industry) are going to pull off 10,000 Mw on the ground,” said Rahul Munjal, managing director, HFE.
HFE has scaled up to a portfolio of 250 Mw in just two years. It has a pipeline of around 1,000 Mw of wind power projects across seven states for the coming year.
“In grid-connected solar projects, we would like to see how the excitement of these big boys pans out. If they under-bid or undercut the market with low prices, then we will stay mostly with wind,” said Munjal. The company is assessing potential of hydro projects but has not closed any deal yet.
“Hydro power is something we are interested in a lead-stage acquisition. As a strategic decision, we would not invest in any greenfield hydro projects,” said Munjal. By 2019 the company plans to set up 2 Gw of renewable energy, likely to be 50 per cent solar and 50 per cent wind. “But we are flexible towards both. We don’t want to bid in projects for the sake of it. We are a Hero group company and bottom line does matter to us,” Munjal added.
Munjal said termed the government’s target of 1.75 Gw by 2022 ‘ambitious’. “In a worst-case scenario, we might touch half the target but even that is a major capacity addition. The existing Indian players will take care of 25-30 per cent of the targets and another 10-20 per cent from the new players,” he added.
According to Sunil Jain, CEO of HFE, there is a concern that if the economy doesn’t pick up, then who will buy power. Off-grid is the way out, he said.
“Thirty per cent of the country is still un-electrified, so there will be demand. Then diesel needs to be replaced as well. The government needs to take care of the cost. Hence, we plan to invest in rooftop and off-grid solar, which is a neglected sector,” said Jain.
Last year, HFE did 4 Mw of roof-top solar.
“We are talking 8,000 Mw a year in rooftop, but we are not doing even half a Mw now. The government needs to make it mandatory and also incentivise it for the end consumer. For a company like ours, off-grid should be scalable. We have requested the government to pool villages and auction them for off-grid solar projects,” said Munjal.
Jain said the government should take bold measures in off-grid. “We are looking at change of quality of life in these villages where solar power would reach. This will create sustainable smart villages.”
