Tata Power seeks 100% green portfolio; de-commissioning of thermal plants

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” The famous words of Winston Churchill apply both to people and businesses. Companies that have managed to stay relevant in the current times are the ones who make history without turning it into a case in history. Tata Group has adopted the philosophy to not only remain a part of India’s history but also stay pivotal to making India’s future.

Tata Power plans a green strategy to ensure the relevance and strategic importance of the company for decades into the future.

The company aims to produce 100% clean and green energy by 2040. All the existing Power Purchase agreements with state power distribution companies will come to an end by 2040 after which Tata Power has decided to decommission its thermal power plants.

The company has charted a strategy to grow its renewable and T&D business and not expand its fossil fuel business, says Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD, Tata Power in an exclusive with Fortune India. Currently, clean & green energy accounts for 38% of the generation capacity, and by 2030 this will account for 70% of the capacity, he adds.

Currently, Tata Power’s renewable portfolio includes solar, wind, hydro, storage & group captive with a potential generation capacity of around 7,800 MW, of which 4,100 MW is operational and 3,600 MW is under implementation. Tata Power has forayed into EPC contracts, Rooftop Solar power generation, EV Charging Stations, Solar Pumps for rural areas, and more.

Tata Power has forayed in a big way in large EPC projects and it has an open order book of 4,039 MW of large utility renewable projects amounting to more than ₹17,000 crore that includes work order from NTPC (470 MW), NHPC (340 MW), Neyveli Lignite (300 MW), NHDC (88 MW), SECI (140 MW), SJVN (1,000 MW) and Tata Group (1,700 MW). Also, at the end of FY 23, Tata Power Solar Systems Limited (TPSSL), the Solar arm of Tata Power had an order book of 17,468 MW. TPSSL executed 1, 300 MW of solar projects in FY 23 while it won new orders of 2, 700 MW in the same period. In FY 22, TPSSL won EPC orders worth 3,250 MW. Focusing on renewable business has not only helped Tata Power improve its ESG ratings but also helped garner more interest from investors.

The company has the backing of marquee strategic investors like Blackrock and Mubadala, which have invested $500 million for an approximate 10% stake in Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TRPEL), the apex Renewable Company of the group.

Also, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation’s (DFC) Board of Directors approved the provision of up to $425 million in financing in TP Solar Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL), for its upcoming green-field 4,300 MW solar cell and module manufacturing plant at Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu.

Tata Power is already running 550 MW of solar cell manufacturing and 650 MW of module plant in Bengaluru. In the last fiscal, Tata Power added over 33,000 solar pumps while the cumulative number of pumps billed till FY 23 was over 97,000. The order book for Solar Pump stood at over ₹250 crore at the end of FY23.

In the solar rooftop business, the order book stood at over ₹1,900 crore at the end of the last fiscal (FY 23). It also won 398 MW of solar rooftop orders in Q-4, FY23. Also, Tata Power is the biggest EV charging provider of the country, with about 50,000 home chargers, and around 5,000 commercial chargers operating by the road-sides of India.