Gautam Adani’s renewable energy company Adani Green Energy on Tuesday said it has bagged a Rs 45,000-crore contract from a central agency to build solar power plants of 8GW capacity and a solar panel unit of 2GW capacity.
State-owned SECI (formerly Solar Energy Corp of India) will buy the power at a fixed tariff of Rs 2.92 per kilowatt-hour (per unit) from the Adanis over a contract period of 25 years.
While the company will build the projects at various locations, the solar manufacturing facility will be ready by 2022. The first 2GW of generation capacity will come onstream by 2022 and the rest will be added in annual 2GW increments through 2025.
Adani likened his efforts to that of India’s top car maker Maruti Suzuki, saying that ramping up local manufacturing will create an ecosystem of suppliers for solar cells and modules. India currently imports over 90 per cent of its solar cell and module requirements from China, and domestic manufacturers have struggled to compete with cheap Chinese modules.
“Basically, we are as competitive as China. We’ll be able to develop ecosystems. In the manufacturing of small cars, one Maruti Suzuki had come and an entire ancillary ecosystem came along with it,” he said in a conference call with reporters.
Shares of Adani Green, which have nearly doubled since the beginning of the year, closed 5 per cent higher at Rs 312.60 on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the group said funding will be through a mix of debt and equity.
“This is the world's largest tender of such large capacity being bid out,” Adani said on the call. “This will help take Adani Green closer to its target of becoming the world's largest renewable power company by 2025.”
Asked about the viability of Rs 2.92 per unit fixed tariff for 25 years, Adani said, “There is enough margin available. Plus we also have 3-5 years to implement the project. We are quite comfortable with the tariff .”
With this contract, Adani Green has a portfolio of 15 GW of renewable power generating assets. It hopes to win tenders for another 10 GW of capacity this year.
