ReNew Energy Global Plc is betting big on export of solar modules, with the expectation of major gains in the US market, as competitors from southeast Asian nations face additional tariff barriers.
Additionally, the company is also looking at energy storage solutions projects including pumped and and battery energy systems.
While an additional 13-14 giga watts RE capacity is being built, the company has tied up power purchase contracts for roughly half of that.
“Solar module exports is something we are exploring, particularly in the US market. We have to see what shape the (US) tariff policy takes. Recently, the US also put tariffs on solar imports from four southeast Asian nations, so that opens a pretty good opportunity for us,” Sanjay Varghese, Group President, solar project and manufacturing at ReNew told FE.
He added that other than India, the US is a main potential market for the company because it has put higher restrictions on Chinese imports, compared to others.
The company has recently secured an investment of Rs 870 crore or $100 million from British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, to accelerate the growth of its solar manufacturing business in India.
Post-expansion, ReNew’s total manufacturing capacity will be around 6.4 GW of solar modules and 6.4 GW of solar cells.
ReNew, an independent power producer (IPP) in the renewable energy (RE) segment with a current commissioned capacity of 11.5 GW, has an additional 13-14 GW of capacity in its pipeline with plans to commission most of it in the next 3-5 years, the company’s Founder, Chairman & CEO, Sumant Sinha told FE.
Asked whether the company has plans to sell its renewable energy assets to fund its expansion, Sinha said that it is looking at opportunities and “will evaluate as and when there is something.”
“We have in the past sold our RE assets and we keep talking to people and looking at opportunities and should something interesting present itself we might look at it for sure because we have a pretty large pipeline of capacity that we want to have and to do that we will need to sell assets to fund part of that,” Sinha said.
Just last year in December, the company sold its 300 MW solar project in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, at an enterprise valuation of $176 million (nearly Rs 1,500 crore) to Anzen Energy Yield Plus Trust.
ReNew is a decarbonisation solutions company listed on Nasdaq. The company has however decided to delist from Nasdaq and has earlier received a non-binding proposal dated December 10, 2024, from Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC-Masdar (Masdar), Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), Platinum Hawk C 2019 RSC Limited as trustee for the Platinum Cactus A 2019 Trust (Platinum Hawk) (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, ADIA) and Sumant Sinha (the Founder, Chairman and CEO of ReNew) (together with Masdar, CPP Investments, and Platinum Hawk, the Consortium) to acquire the entire issued and to-be-issued share capital of the company not already owned by members of the Consortium, for cash consideration of $7.07 per share.