CERC Approves High Price Bilateral Market Segment on PXIL

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Indian Oil Floats Consultancy Tender for Renewable Projects Across India

Europe’s Power Sector Calls for Ramping Up Aging Grid Infrastructure

Daily News-Wrap Up: NTPC Invites Bids to Develop 176 MW Solar Projects

Silfab to Build 1.2 GW Solar Module Manufacturing Facility in York County

Voyants Solutions Wins TUSCO’s Consultancy Auction for 600 MW of Solar Projects

PFC Consulting Invites Bids for 1.25 GW ISTS-Connected Solar Projects

NTPC Invites Bids to Develop 176 MW of Solar Projects in Telangana


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					</table><p>Telecommunications service provider <a href="https://www.airtel.in/about-bharti/about-bharti-airtel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bharti Airtel</a> will purchase 23,000 MWh of renewable energy by the fourth quarter (Q4) of the financial year (FY) 2023-24 for its data center subsidiary, <a href="https://www.nxtra.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nxtra</a>.</p>
<p>The company said the move aligns with Airtel&#8217;s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.</p>
<p>Airtel said it would acquire stakes in renewable energy projects set up by <a href="https://www.continuumenergy.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Continuum Green India</a> and <a href="https://www.vibrantenergy.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vibrant Energy Holdings</a>, which will power six of Nxtra&#8217;s Edge data center facilities.</p>
<p>The renewable energy procurement will occur through the open access route, where Airtel will invest in Continuum Green&#8217;s project company, ensuring a sustainable supply of green power from solar and wind energy projects to Nxtra&#8217;s Edge data centers in Madhya Pradesh.</p>
<p>Airtel has entered into a similar agreement with Vibrant Energy to harness solar power for its Edge data center in Vijayawada.</p>
<p>The total contracted renewable energy capacity for Nxtra data centers is poised to surpass 274,000 MWh.</p>
<p>Ashish Arora, the CEO of Nxtra by Airtel, said, &#8220;As a leader in India&#8217;s data center industry, Nxtra is committed to becoming a net zero company by 2031. We believe that India&#8217;s growth will be mirrored by its data center industry growth in the coming years and are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and leading the Green Data Center infrastructure revolution in the country.&#8221;</p>
<p>Nxtra aims to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its operations by 100%, aiming to reach net zero by FY 2031, with FY 2021 serving as the base year for comparison.</p>
<p>The company will employ a multi-faceted approach, including the accelerated adoption of green energy sources throughout its operations, implementing energy-efficient infrastructure and processes, and incorporating sustainable business practices into its workplace.</p>
<p>Nxtra has one of India&#8217;s largest networks of secure, scalable, and sustainable data centers, with a presence in over 120 locations.</p>
<p>The company plans to double its existing capacity to over 400 MW in the coming years with an investment of ₹50 billion (~$602 million).</p>
<p>Recently, Nxtra Data <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/airtel-increases-captive-renewable-energy-project" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquired</a> an additional stake of 5.464% in Avaada MHAmravati, a subsidiary of Avaada Energy, for ₹23.9 million (~$290,663).</p>
<p>In March last year, Bharti Airtel and Nxtra Data <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/airtel-acquires-avaada-open-access-solar-karnataka" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquired</a> a 7.03% and 11.33% equity stake in Avaada KNShorapur, an SPV operating a 10 MW open access solar project in Karnataka. Airtel acquired the stake for a cash consideration of ₹17.42 million (~$228,387) to acquire 1.74 million equity shares of ₹10 (~$0.13) each.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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Airtel’s Data Center Subsidiary to Procure 23,000 MWh Renewable Power in FY24


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					</table><p><a href="https://www.vibrantenergy.in/index" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vibrant Energy</a> has signed a deal with the Denmark-based wind turbine manufacturer <a href="https://www.vestas.com/en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vestas</a> for the supply of 36 V155 3.6 MW wind turbines. The turbines will be supplied to Vibrant Energy’s two wind projects in India.</p>
<p>Vestas is expected to deliver the turbines starting the fourth quarter of 2023, while the commissioning will be complete by the second quarter of 2024.</p>
<p>Srini Viswanathan, CEO of Vibrant Energy, said, “We are glad to announce the second order for V155-3.6 MW turbines. With this order of 36 turbines totaling 130 MW, we can strengthen our product offering for wind-solar hybrid power projects for our corporate customers. We look forward to expanding this partnership and delivering our shared vision of a sustainable-energy driven future.&#8221;</p>
<p>Vibrant’s business involves providing commercial and industrial consumers with renewable energy to help achieve their net zero goals and mitigate climate change.</p>
<p>The company had signed a power purchase agreement with Amazon in December last year to supply 300 MW of wind-solar hybrid power.</p>
<p>The company was recently <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/cerc-grants-trading-license-to-vibrant-energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">granted</a> a trading license by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission for interstate electricity trading across India.</p>
<p>Vestas had previously also supplied to Vibrant Energy’s 54 MW wind project in Maharashtra. The project comprises 15 V155-3.6 MW turbines with an expected commissioning date in the first quarter of 2023.</p>
<p>“Vibrant Energy is one of India’s fastest-growing renewable energy companies. We have worked closely with them over the last one year over the execution of their current project in Maharashtra, and I am confident that this second order will only be another stepping stone to a long and mutually fruitful partnership between the two companies. I would like to thank them for once again trusting in Vestas’ ability to deliver reliable and efficient solutions”, says Purvin Patel, CEO &amp; President of Vestas Asia Pacific.</p>
<p>Just last month, Vestas <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/vestas-lands-from-brazils-casa-dos-ventos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">won</a> the order to supply 168 V150-4.5 MW wind turbines to 1.3 GW of wind projects owned by the Brazil-based renewable energy developer Casa dos Ventos. The projects are located at the Serra do Tigre farm in Rio Grande do Norte and Babilônia Centro in Bahia.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/satish-shetty/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Satish Shetty</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Satish-pic-1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Satish Shetty,</strong> Associate Editor at Mercom India<br />
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Satish-pic-1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/satish-shetty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Satish Shetty</strong></a> is an Associate Editor with Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Satish was a multimedia news producer at Reuters, where he gained experience in digital news media. Satish has his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Broadcast Journalism from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Malaysia.<br />
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Vestas to Supply 130 MW Wind Turbines to Vibrant Energy


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					</table><p>As we enter 2023, a new era is beginning in the Indian solar industry &#8211; a move toward domestic manufacturing and supply chain independence.</p>
<p>The solar industry in India experienced the most significant change in direction since the National Solar Policy was established with the imposition of BCD and ALMM. The impact of these policy changes will be transformative as the country starts setting up a domestic supply chain.</p>
<p>&#8220;Because of ALMM and BCD, a significant amount of solar module manufacturing capacity is being announced by Indian manufacturers. But this will be the first year where we will see any real effects. Higher module prices, the quality of domestically produced modules, and the demand-supply gap – will all be factors that will directly determine the pace of growth in the Indian solar market in 2023,&#8221; said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.</p>
<p>In the first nine months of 2022, a record 10 GW of new solar capacity was added, an increase of 35% year-over-year, according to Mercom India Research&#8217;s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/q3-2022-india-solar-market-update" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Q3 2022 India Solar Market Update</a> report.</p>
<p>&#8220;With the recent timeline extension granted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), many projects are expected to roll over to 2024, which will affect the overall installation numbers this year. It is not going to surpass the 2022 numbers. Also, we will have to assess the overall impact of the recent COVID-19 outbreak in China, which might impact the Indian market,&#8221; a top official from <a href="https://www.ntpc.co.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NTPC</a>, said.</p>
<p>Further, he said that since the domestic module manufacturing capacity will not fulfill the growing demands of the developers in 2023, they will have to look for other options.</p>
<p>While there is a sense of uncertainty regarding the availability of solar modules, domestic manufacturers are confident they can meet the demands of the solar sector in the new year.</p>
<p>&#8220;Many of the factories producing 540 Wp modules are operating at full capacity and new capacity is being added, which will benefit the domestic manufacturing industry. The government must focus on policy consistency to support the growth of the manufacturing sector. The implementation of the ALMM should also continue,&#8221; said Avinash Hiranandani, Managing Director of <a href="https://www.renewsysworld.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RenewSys</a>, a solar module manufacturer.</p>
<p>&#8220;On the supply side, lower demand usually means lower prices. We are already seeing that trend with Chinese solar modules, cells, wafers, and polysilicon ASPs all declining significantly towards the end of the year. We expect prices to continue declining in 2023, reversing a trend of higher prices caused by the supply bottleneck that started because of the Covid-19 pandemic,&#8221; noted Prabhu.</p>
<p>Apart from government interventions to help the domestic industry, module manufacturers are also upbeat because a decline in cell and metal prices and the anticipated decrease in module prices will likely increase the demand for solar installations from both C&amp;I customers and utility-scale projects.</p>
<p>But manufacturers have also pointed out that the inordinate delay in receiving approval for their products under ALMM has proved to be a challenge in 2022.</p>
<p>Harsh Jain, Director at <a href="https://www.citizensolar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Citizen Solar</a>, a solar module manufacturer, and EPC service provider said, &#8220;The government is taking more than six months to complete the audit for ALMM, which makes it difficult for manufacturers like us. An expedited audit process in 2023 is needed as even net-metering projects need ALMM modules.&#8221;</p>
<p>After initial doubts, some developers have begun to buy into the manufacturers&#8217; confidence that they can meet the domestic module demand.</p>
<p>Vinay Pabba, Chief Operating Officer at <a href="https://www.vibrantenergyholdings.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vibrant Energy</a>, an open access developer, said, &#8220;Domestic manufacturing is ramping up and the fervent hope is that this picks up the pace and supports the huge target of domestic installations we need every year to hit 280 GW of solar by 2030 from the current level of around 62 GW.&#8221;</p>
<p>He added that the developers are concerned about the growing <a href="https://mercomindia.com/india-solar-module-exports-to-us-surge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">module exports</a> but hoped that sufficient module capacity would be retained for domestic use.</p>
<p><strong>C&amp;I segment to drive solar growth</strong></p>
<p>The increased consumption from the C&amp;I segment has driven power demand to new highs. Further, the segment is also actively looking to fulfill green obligations to be eligible for exports and meet their Environmental, Social, and Governance goals.</p>
<p>The industry believes that a combination of these factors is likely to propel solar installations in 2023.</p>
<p>&#8220;I believe that a 7-7.5% YoY growth in power demand going forward is possible. The bulk of the surging demand is likely to be met by solar in the scenario when coal capacity addition is flagging,&#8221; Pabba added.</p>
<p>With technological advancements that make round-the-clock power from renewable sources possible and policy support in the form of the interstate transmission system (ISTS) charges waiver, the industry is looking at the C&amp;I segment to create substantial demand for solar installations in 2023.</p>
<p>&#8220;The C&amp;I segment is primed for better demand during the year, especially given the clear shift towards wind-solar hybrid projects and a push toward round-the-clock renewable energy projects,&#8221; <a href="https://amplussolar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amplus Solar</a> team, a distributed energy company, said.</p>
<p><strong>Evacuation infra and land acquisition concerns</strong></p>
<p>A lack of uniform land acquisition policy across the country has been an age-old issue for developers who have repeatedly petitioned the government about how the lack of ownership of the land on which the solar project is situated cuts them off from access to affordable financing.</p>
<p>Varchasvi Gagal, CEO and Managing Director at <a href="https://dattainfra.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Datta Infra</a>, a land and infrastructure solutions provider, said, &#8220;Assets built upon owned land have a drastic upside in valuations and stability of owning an asset. A uniform policy on land acquisition is required from the Ministry of Power and MNRE.&#8221;</p>
<p>The developers hope that the new year will finally bring a resolution to the issue. The industry is also concerned about the availability of evacuation infrastructure for all the planned capacity addition.</p>
<p>Although the government has finalized plans and dedicated funds to green energy transmission corridors, solar projects are typically commissioned much faster than transmission facilities which could create a bottleneck for the sector in the new year.</p>
<p>&#8220;The transmission segment is not that well-equipped to address the challenges of massive solar capacity addition in the next few years. Until now, solar has been the dominant player in the western region, with Rajasthan and Gujarat leading the way. But with hybrid taking the pivotal role, southern states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu are moving ahead, but the southern region lacks transmission capacity to export energy to the north.&#8221; Amritesh Nambiar, Assistant Vice President-Projects at <a href="https://www.sterlitepower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sterlite</a>, an integrated power transmission developer and solutions provider, said.</p>
<p>He added that many new transmission lines had been planned in these regions, which will come to fruition in 2023 and the first half of 2024.</p>
<p>Jain concurred with the view and urged the government to provide a solution to both these issues.</p>
<p>&#8220;Short-term challenges are plenty in the Indian solar market. However, the government&#8217;s strong commitment to renewables with a goal to add 280 GW of solar by 2030 makes the long-term prospects very attractive,&#8221; added Prabhu.</p>
<p>To discuss the opportunities and ways to face challenges, Mercom India will <a href="https://mercomindia.com/event/renewables-summit-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">host</a> a two-day conference. The Mercom India Renewables Summit 2023 (formerly Mercom India Solar Summit) will bring together government, implementing agencies, think tanks, developers, manufacturers, investors, innovators, and other key decision makers on one stage to discuss plans and progress across the renewable sector.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Rakesh Ranjan</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Rakesh Ranjan,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a></p>
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<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rakesh-Headshot-crop-2.jpg" width="77" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Rakesh Ranjan</strong></a> is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Prior to joining Mercom, he worked in many roles as a business correspondent, assistant editor, senior content writer, and sub-editor with bcfocus.com, CIOReview/Silicon India, Verbinden Communication, and Bangalore Bias. Rakesh holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/rakesh-ranjan-parashar/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Rakesh Ranjan.</a>
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Outlook for Indian Solar Industry in 2023: A New Manufacturing Era Begins


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					</table><p>Affordability, reliability, and sustainability are the three pillars driving the growth of renewable energy adoption among businesses, especially the commercial and industrial (C&amp;I) segment, Vinay Pabba, Chief Operating Officer at <a href="https://www.vibrantenergyholdings.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vibrant Energy</a>, said at the recent Mercom India C&amp;I Clean Energy Meet in Noida.</p>
<p>Pabba said renewable energy solutions save businesses 15-30% in energy costs.</p>
<p>He was a panelist in a discussion on &#8216;Clean Power Purchase – Options and Technologies Maximizing ROI.&#8217;</p>
<p>Here are the excerpts from his observations at the session:</p>
<p><strong>What makes solar essential for businesses?</strong></p>
<p>Affordability remains a primary driver today with the declining costs of solar and wind. A secular downward trend in prices has ensured that it is now very affordable for industries to buy solar and wind power and make a saving.</p>
<p>So, whether you are in Noida, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, or anywhere from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, I believe that with proper structuring and solution provider, industries and businesses can stand to save between 15-30%, depending on where you are.</p>
<p>Renewable energy is now much more accessible to even small businesses and industries.</p>
<p><strong>Is the Green Energy Open Access policy a game-changer?</strong></p>
<p>We have a great enabling legislation that came out only a couple of months back— the Green Open Access rules.</p>
<p>Earlier, the privilege of going for open access was limited to customers with a very high load of above 1 MW to be able to sign a contract with independent generators to set up solar and wind projects and then deliver power at their premises.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s no longer the case. That limit of 1 MW has now been reduced to 100 kW.</p>
<p>This opens the space to even smaller industrial establishments, which can now opt for open access. That&#8217;s a great enabling legislation. We believe that policy amendments alone can increase the open access customer base by at least a multiple of 1,000.</p>
<p><strong>How do you see the trend of businesses adopting renewables to meet sustainability goals?</strong></p>
<p>Sustainability is not just driven by CSR initiatives or corporate commitments to emission reduction, but it&#8217;s also primarily by the compulsions of the supply chain &#8211; especially in very hard-to-abate sectors like cement and steel.</p>
<p>Europe and the U.S. today demand that companies supply green steel to them, which attracts a premium. So, companies earn more by adopting renewables.</p>
<p>Also, the legislation in these countries, which might kick in in a couple of years, is to impose a carbon tax on steel and other commodities coming into Europe, depending on the inherent carbon content. So, a manufacturer can have a lesser tariff barrier if the steel happens to be green and exported to Europe.</p>
<p>Supply chain compulsions remain a very strong reason why Indian businesses are going the renewable route.</p>
<p><strong>Are businesses more confident in switching fully or partly to solar to meet their energy needs?</strong></p>
<p>At the end of the day, industries need reliable power. This was one box that solar and wind could not tick for a long time. Solar isn&#8217;t available at night, which creates an intermittency problem.</p>
<p>This is much less in wind, given that 80% of the generation is in three to four months, highly intermittent, and, therefore, unreliable. But those were the old days.</p>
<p>With the intelligent combination of solar, wind, and energy storage systems, we can now give our customers a reliable power solution.</p>
<p>So, a firm can achieve a 70% renewable profile, which is very similar to a base load profile, by an intelligent combination of solar and wind and a bit of oversizing. Further, these projects can be located in areas where resource maximization can occur.</p>
<p>It is now possible to have round-the-clock, reliable baseload power with renewable energy. That&#8217;s a huge enabler and will remain a key driver for C&amp;I businesses and industries if they want to go down the solar path<strong>. </strong></p>
<p><strong>What more can the government do to push renewable adoption among businesses further?</strong></p>
<p>The government has provided the necessary push. Many power distribution companies (DISCOMs) provide green power tariffs. The industries must now be obliged to do their part, especially when solution providers like Vibrant Energy provide ample options and help save money.</p>
<p>Mercom India&#8217;s C&amp;I Clean Energy <a href="https://mercomindia.com/renewable-experts-decode-ways-for-green-at-mercom-indias-event/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meets</a> bring the commercial and industrial sector face to face with green energy developers and financiers specializing in designing, implementing, and funding renewable energy solutions.</p>
<p>Mercom India will host the &#8216;C&amp;I Clean Energy Meet&#8217; series across major cities in the country in 2023.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/sumit-jha/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Sumit Jha</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt"><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture2.jpg" width="50" /><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Sumit Jha,</strong> Assistant Managing Editor at Mercom India</div>
<div class="designboxt"><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/sumit-jha/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Sumit Jha.</a></div>
<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture2.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/sumit-jha/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Sumit Jha </strong></a>is the Assistant Managing Editor at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Sumit worked as a journalist for over a decade, covering the energy sector for Reuters, CNBC-TV18, Bloomberg TV India, and Financial Express, among others. Sumit holds a diploma in print journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi, and a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) from Manipal Institute of Technology.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/sumit-jha/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Sumit Jha</a></div>
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Renewable Adoption Can Save Businesses 15-30% on Power Bills


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					</table><p>In an exclusive interview with Mercom India, Srinivasan Viswanathan, CEO of <a href="https://www.vibrantenergyholdings.com/index" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vibrant Energy</a>, talks about the company’s contribution to the growing renewable energy transition in the nation’s Commercial and Industrial (C&amp;I) segment, recent developments, key trends, and the company’s plan to pivot towards a green hydrogen ecosystem.</p>
<p>Vibrant Energy operates a renewable energy portfolio of 132 MW, with an active development pipeline of ~3 GW. The company has, over the years, played an active role in helping C&amp;I consumers transition to renewable energy to save on costs and earn green attributes in the process.</p>
<p><strong>Could you give us an overview of Vibrant Energy’s business?</strong></p>
<p>Vibrant Energy’s business is exclusively focused on corporate renewables; our vision and mission have always been to play a key role in mitigating climate change.</p>
<p>One of the main areas to decarbonize is the C&amp;I sector, with a combination of clean energy and clean fuels as an extension of that. We work with corporates across India to support them in their decarbonization agenda.</p>
<p>We primarily work on three business strategies, one where we have a significant development pipeline built at the state level delivering intra-state open access strategies for our clients.</p>
<p>Our second business model includes an inter-state transmission system (ISTS) to deliver round-the-clock renewables through wind-solar hybrid projects to our clients with pan-India operations.</p>
<p>The last strategy is innovating business models around green energy attributes that we can also deliver through our large ISTS pipeline.</p>
<p><strong>What is the adoption rate for renewable energy amongst C&amp;I consumers in India?</strong></p>
<p>We have to divide the answer to this question into two parts: the demand and supply sides. In terms of the demand, if we were to consider our non-fossil fuel goal of 500 GW by 2030, it translates to 45-50 GW a year of renewable energy capacity to be brought online. We cannot expect the market to execute only government tenders for the entire 50 GW.</p>
<p>Some of the beneficial reforms by the government have laid down a clear roadmap to assist in setting up this capacity through the C&amp;I segment. Every corporate, big, or small, is looking for strategies and solutions to meet their net-zero commitments in India and globally.</p>
<p>In terms of supply, India, a vibrant democracy, witnesses constant stakeholder consultation and pushback to the government as and when required. The industry has always come together to challenge the supply issues out there and meet the rising demands of the corporates.</p>
<p><strong>Could you tell us about your recent partnership with Amazon?</strong></p>
<p>Amazon has a large decarbonization agenda, and in India, they have been partnering to build new capacities to extend their renewable energy penetration. We will be one of the first companies to work with them on a large hybrid project, as the previously announced ones are pure solar. We will focus on a complete wind-solar hybrid, and in terms of capacity, it is one of the biggest C&amp;I hybrid PPA (power purchase agreement) in the corporate space at 300 MWac, and around 476 MWdc spread across two locations.</p>
<p><strong>What could the government do to contribute in terms of a policy push?</strong></p>
<p>One of the things all of us developers agree needs regulating is the Deviation Settlement Mechanism (DSM), which is currently a very narrow band. During extreme weather conditions, we can register significant losses in the project due to the very strict DSM band, which is required at the state load despatch center (SLDC).</p>
<p>The strategy should be to very quickly build a large ancillary market that is yet to pick up. The whole storage system must become a mechanism for an ancillary market that is pan-India. It doesn’t matter who it is, it could be behind-the-meter for a customer or an SLDC, and that is the liberalization that we hope to achieve and help resolve the DSM issue.</p>
<p>Of course, this is a long-term solution, but in the short term, we, as stakeholders, must work together and let the regulators know.</p>
<p><strong>What direction is Vibrant Energy headed in the upcoming years?</strong></p>
<p>We will be reaching close to 5 GW of assets under management capacity in the next three years, and at some point, we are looking to pivot our business from just delivering clean energy to delivering clean fuels.</p>
<p>We are actively exploring opportunities to deliver green hydrogen and green ammonia to our clients. The interesting part is that almost 75% of the cost of green hydrogen is power, which we offer, providing us the advantage of delivering green hydrogen at competitive rates.</p>
<p>It also works as a natural extension for many of our customers who are potentially buying massive amounts of green energy from us to simply allocate some of it to run an electrolyzer to generate green hydrogen, which becomes an input fuel for their processes.</p>
<p>India imports almost all its crude, and if we can pivot a lot of our industrial use of hydrogen to green hydrogen and, at some point in the future even pivot our large truck transportation mechanism to hydrogen, we can save a significant amount of foreign exchange for the economy and that will be a huge accretive scenario for the country.<br />
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<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/satish-shetty/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Satish Shetty</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Satish-pic-1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Satish Shetty,</strong> Associate Editor at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/satish-shetty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Satish Shetty.</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Satish-pic-1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/satish-shetty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Satish Shetty</strong></a> is an Associate Editor with Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Satish was a multimedia news producer at Reuters, where he gained experience in digital news media. Satish has his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Broadcast Journalism from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Malaysia.<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/satish-shetty/" rel="noopener noreferrer">More articles from Satish Shetty.</a></div>
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Vibrant Energy Plans Green Hydrogen Foray as it Expands its C&I Footprint: Interview

<p>Three renewable energy companies in India, <a href="https://renewpower.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ReNew Power</a>, <a href="https://www.vibrantenergyholdings.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vibrant Energy</a>, and <a href="https://www.azurepower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Azure Power</a>, have announced changes in their senior leadership positions.</p>
<p>The changes come when the Indian renewable energy industry has the arduous task of meeting the target of 500 GW by 2030 set by the government.</p>
<p><strong>ReNew Power</strong></p>
<p>ReNew Power announced it has appointed Kedar Upadhye as its group Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Upadhye comes with over 22 years of diverse and global experience. Before joining ReNew, he was President and Global CFO of pharmaceutical company Cipla.</p>
<p>Upadhye was also the Vice President and Head, Finance and Investor Relations for Dr. Reddy&#8217;s Laboratories. He has also held leadership roles at PepsiCo and Thermax.</p>
<p>Upadhye&#8217;s leadership experience includes core financial reporting, cost optimization, global investor relations, and several high-impact, cross-functional transformational projects.</p>
<p>ReNew has also hired a new General Counsel &#8211; Vikash Jain, and a Chief Growth Officer &#8211; Vikram Kapur, who will help lead its expansion over the next decade, including its push into new clean energy segments such as green hydrogen.</p>
<p>According to the recently released <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-leaderboard-2022-market-shares-and-profiles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Market Leaderboard 2022</a>, <a href="https://renewpower.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ReNew Power</a> was the largest utility-scale developer in terms of installations for the calendar year 2021. The company was <a href="https://mercomindia.com/renew-power-lists-on-nasdaq/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed</a> on the Nasdaq in 2021 after completing a business combination with RMG Acquisition Corporation II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).</p>
<p>In April this year, ReNew Power announced it had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/renew-power-signs-power-purchase-agreements-for-2-gw-of-solar-projects/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> five power purchase agreements (PPA) amounting to about 2 GW with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), and corporate buyers.</p>
<p><strong>Vibrant Energy</strong></p>
<p>Vibrant Energy announced the appointment of Vinay Pabba as the company&#8217;s Chief Operating Officer. Pabba is a veteran in the renewable industry with a track record of building close to 3 GW of solar and wind assets.</p>
<p>He has held leadership roles in large renewable energy platforms in India, with the most recent stints being at Brookfield Asset Management and Greenko Group. He has executed large-format transmission and distribution projects in India and Africa during a prior role with engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) companies.</p>
<p>Pabba is the founder of VARP Power and is a Director on the Board of Virescent Infrastructure, a renewable energy platform backed by leading global investment firm KKR in India.</p>
<p>Vibrant Energy is a portfolio company with indirect investments from Macquarie&#8217;s Green Investment Group but operating independently.</p>
<p>Early this year, Vibrant Energy <a href="https://mercomindia.com/daily-news-wrap-up-data-centers-green-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> power purchase agreements for 231 MW of solar and wind energy capacity to power Sify&#8217;s latest hyperscale data centers.</p>
<p><strong>Azure Power</strong></p>
<p>Azure Power announced that Harsh Shah would join as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from July 1, 2022. Shah was previously the Chief Executive Officer of IndiGrid, India&#8217;s first and largest Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) in the Indian energy sector.</p>
<p>He has served as the Chief Financial Officer for Sterlite Power and IndiGrid. He is also on the SEBI Advisory Committee for InvITs and real estate investment trusts.</p>
<p>Shah has a strong track record of building large infrastructure platforms, developing high-performing teams, delivering robust P&amp;L management, and raising private and public capital across the infrastructure sector in India and global markets.</p>
<p>Azure had previously <a href="https://mercomindia.com/azure-power-announces-resignations-of-both-ceo-and-coo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that its Board of Directors had accepted the resignations of its CEO Ranjit Gupta and COO Murali Subramanian.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.azurepower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Azure Power</a> was the third-largest utility-scale developer in terms of installations, according to <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-leaderboard-2022-market-shares-and-profiles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Market Leaderboard 2022</a>. The company <a href="https://mercomindia.com/azure-sells-non-core-rooftop-solar-radiance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sold</a> its non-core rooftop solar portfolio during the year.</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Arjun Joshi</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Arjun Joshi,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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<p><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Arjun-Joshi-1.png" width="86" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong style="color: #00b451">Arjun Joshi</strong> </a>is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before joining Mercom, he worked as a technical writer for enterprise resource software companies based in India and abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Psychology, and Optional English from Garden City University, Bangalore. <a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/arjun-joshi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Arjun Joshi.</a></p>
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