Waaree Energies is targeting 50-60% growth in exports by FY28, with the additional business expected to come from Europe and Central Asia, a top company executive said.
The company has been actively bidding for projects in European markets such as Italy and France. “We are hopeful of winning immediate orders in Italy and France,” Abhishek Pareek, chief financial officer at Waaree Energies, told Financial Express in a post-earnings interaction. He added that the company currently exports around 2-3 GW annually to multiple markets. “We can certainly look at an additional 1 GW to 2 GW from the European markets going ahead,” he said.
Europe demand offers long-term opportunity
“Europe annually consumes 50-60 GW even in the worst-case scenario, but as of now, it is flush with inventory. The good part is that the markets have opened up and, directionally, a bigger share of the market can come to Indian manufacturers. So, the opportunity is very large,” he said.
In Europe, Waaree will initially supply modules and transmission and distribution equipment before eventually offering end-to-end solutions, Pareek said.
Recently, Tata Power said it would look at exporting solar equipment to Italy and subsequently to other European countries as they open up to imports. Managing director and CEO Praveer Sinha had said the company sees an export opportunity of 2-3 GW in Italy. Italy last year opened up imports of non-Chinese solar equipment for its renewable energy projects.
Waaree is also targeting markets such as Australia and New Zealand, which could potentially add significant revenue going forward, Pareek said.
Asked about the impact of the conflict in the Wet Asia , he said the company has bid for large orders worth Rs 4,000-5,000 crore each in the region.
Pareek said Waaree has bid for projects in countries including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and the UAE.
The scope of work includes the supply of modules, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), and transmission and distribution (T&D). “These are turnkey contracts because the Middle East is largely a contractor’s market, where the supplier has not just to supply but also erect, commission and service the sites,” he said.
In the US, Waaree is expanding its manufacturing facility from 1.6 GW to 4.2 GW over the next six months, adding nearly 3 GW of capacity.
US manufacturing to drive future supplies
“We will continue to export, but the major share of US offtake will now be supplied from the US facility, while some supplies will continue from our Indian facility as well,” he said.
On the investigation into its exports to the US, Pareek said the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), after a detailed five-year audit of Waaree’s exports, concluded that the company had not used Chinese cells in products supplied to the US.
On the decline in EBITDA margin to 18.15% in Q1FY27 from 33.53% a year earlier, he said the company’s 10-GW cell manufacturing facility in India, expected to commence operations over the next six to 10 months, would provide significant support to margins.
“That will also help us to have a much better margin profile overall. In addition, our new cell-module facility in the US is also expected to add a lot of margin in the overall scheme of things,” he said.
The company’s profit after tax rose 15% year-on-year to Rs 891 crore in Q1FY27, while revenue increased 79% to Rs 7,931 crore.