Since the listing began with a market capitalisation of $4.5 billion, it will possibly help us raise capital easily and we also hope to lower finance cost in the long run. The green bonds will be continued for debt financing.

ReNew Power recently became the first Indian renewable energy company to publicly list in the United States through a special purpose acquisition company. The $610 million in cash it received from the IPO will be added to its existing cash balance. The company had earlier told analysts that it aims to own more than 18 GW of renewable energy assets by FY25 and raise annual revenue to more than $1,950 million from the current level of $699 million. Sumant Sinha, chairman and managing director of ReNew Power, tells Anupam Chatterjee how the company plans to gain from the public listing. Edited excerpts.

How does the listing change the way funds will be accessed from now on?
The $610 million cash raised from the IPO will be infused as equity in the company. Since the listing began with a market capitalisation of $4.5 billion, it will possibly help us raise capital easily and we also hope to lower finance cost in the long run. The green bonds will be continued for debt financing. Till now, the company has been raising via marquee global equity investors, green bonds, domestic project financing and funding from overseas credit institutions.

To meet the target of having more than 18 GW by FY25, how much greenfield capacity does ReNew plan to build? How much can be added through acquisition of operational projects?
We are open to thoughts and ideas. We have not firmed a concrete plan yet about what would be the composition of the generation asset portfolio by the end of FY25. We currently own about 10 GW of assets, including the 5.7 GW which are currently operational. The remaining capacity needed for the 18-plus GW FY25 target will be a balance of organic and inorganic growth, but we have not determined yet in what ratio that would be. We have recently acquired a 99 MW hydroelectric project in Uttarakhand, which can serve as a storage capacity to a small extent.

Will funds from the listing be used for building further backward integration capacity of the upcoming manufacturing facility to include polysilicon and wafers?
As of now, we will go ahead with the initial plan of setting up the 2 GW module and cell manufacturing facility. Going forward, we will evaluate if we will integrate backward to manufacture polysilicon and wafer.

With the government floating the draft renewable energy open access rules, is there a possibility of the company focusing its attention more on this consumer segment?

ReNew has about 450 MW of projects with around 150 large corporate customers. The commercial and industrial segment will definitely become a larger consumer category going forward. We will also gradually put additional focus on this segment as the market picks up.

Will you be also evaluating entry into future growth areas such as green hydrogen that are congruous to you existing business profile?

The government has big plans for green hydrogen and we are keeping a track on the developments. We are examining the possibilities and we will take a call on that at the opportune moment.

Being the first Indian renewable energy firm to get listed on Nasdaq, what kind of reactions are you getting from the global investor community?

Investors here are not very aware of the current state of the renewable energy sector in India. We are informing them about the huge market opportunity in India, and how the government policies are supportive to promote renewable energy in the country.

 

Source: Financial Express