Mytrah Energy Plans To Add 1 GW Renewable Capacity By September 2019

Mytrah Energy, the winner in India's first wind power auction last year, plans to add 1-gigawatt of wind and solar capacity by September next year as India increases the pace of tendering.

That will add to Mytrah's 2 GW of renewable energy capacity, Vikram Kailas, vice chairman and managing director at the company, told BloombergQuint in an interview.

Mytrah, listed on London's AIM, won 250 MW bid in the first such auction conducted by Solar Energy Corporation of India last year in February after India moved from feed-in tariffs to auctions. It will sell power from the project at Maniyachi, Tamil Nadu to Power Trading Corporation at Rs 3.46 per unit.

Both solar and wind tariffs have since fallen to record lows as India auction projects to meet its target of increasing the nation's renewable energy capacity about threefold to 175 GW by 2022. That's because Asia's third-largest economy wants to lower its reliance on coal-fired energy. That includes adding 100 GW solar and 60 GW wind capacity.

The target for achieving wind capacity will be met but solar sector has fallen behind by 20,000-30,000 MW, Kailas said. The overall target may be delayed by a year or two, he said. “That's because of regulatory uncertainty in terms of safeguard duty, anti-dumping duty and solar panels being not available in China in the volume and frequency that you would expect it to be. I will recommend the government to have clarity on regulatory aspect of the business.”

Mytrah has 2000 MW of operational and under-development power capacity, according to the information on its website. The assets are spread across 15 wind farms in nine states—Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

The clean energy firm may file for an initial public offering next year, Kailas said. It aims to raise $500 million, he said, declining to give further details.

The company reported a revenue of $228.53 million for six months ended June 2017, according to its financial statements. That's a 53 percent jump on a yearly basis as per the previous year's policies.

Wind tariffs have fallen to record lows in the auction held after February last year. Kailas said pricing will remain in the range of Rs 2.5-3.25 a unit but still cheaper than thermal energy. “That's because technology has improved drastically. Therefore, there has been an increase in volume. Wind sector faces two risks: the off-taker and grid. In SECI auctions, there is more clarity in the PPA which bring the risks down and there is assured evacuation. All this is driving the risks and cost of power lower.”

Waiving interstate transmission charges for wind and solar projects commissioned till March 2022 is a good step, he said. Rs 2-3 per unit will be saved as states like Rajasthan that was buying power at Rs 5.50 a unit can now get it at Rs 2, he said. “Now you can locate your wind farms at the best possible wind sites and supply power at the least cost possible. Discoms will demand wind and solar power. We expect the volumes to go up by at least 50-100 percent,”

Kailas, however, cautioned that the next financial year will be a dull one for the wind sector. “Bids have come but most of these projects are not going to happen next year… because you have 20 months to do these projects. The year after that, we see 6,000-10,000 MW addition.”