Tata Power is stepping up its clean energy play — from acquiring a 40% stake in a hydropower project in Bhutan to setting up a 10 GW wafers and ingots facility in India to strengthen the domestic solar manufacturing ecosystem. In a conversation with Raghavendra Kamath, managing director and CEO Praveer Sinha explains the rationale behind these initiatives, the company’s growth strategy, and its plans to expand its power distribution footprint. Excerpts:
Your profits and revenues have fallen marginally in Q2. How do you plan to boost profit and topline?
All our business segments — including renewables, distribution, transmission, and others — have done well. Q3 will be better than Q2. Q4 will be better than Q3.
What’s the idea behind the 10 GW wafers and ingots facility you plan to set up? Will exports be part of the plan?
The whole purpose is to supply to the Indian market. From June 1, 2028, producers have to use India-made wafers and ingots to meet local requirement norms. We will use 5 GW capacity ourselves and sell the other 5 GW to domestic manufacturers.
You are acquiring 40% in a Bhutan hydropower SPV. What’s the rationale behind this move and your growing focus on Bhutan?
Bhutan is a country with a lot of opportunities to set up hydroelectric projects, unlike India, where there are issues related to shifting, resettlement, and so on. That is why we are keen to set up projects there.
We have already set up a 126 MW facility between 2008 and 2012, which is supplying power to India. We have started another 600 MW project, which will be commissioned in 2029–30. We are also setting up a 1,125 MW project in Dorjilung, where we are buying a 40% stake. The World Bank and a consortium of lenders are financing it.
It is a good project to generate and supply power to India during the peak summer months. It is a phenomenal opportunity to strengthen our hydro energy portfolio and green power capacity.
You mentioned Tata Power aims to expand its distribution footprint to 40 million consumers by 2030. Could you elaborate?
Opportunities are coming up in the distribution space. We could even go beyond 40 million consumers; it depends on the kind of decisions the government takes. We are already active in cities such as Mumbai, and we will take up other cities. We can take over discoms that are under stress and not performing well, and turn them around. There’s a lot to do next year — we are also building our transmission network and investing in it over the next three to four years.
How do you look at opportunities to supply power to data centres since the segment is seeing huge demand?
A lot of data centres are coming up, and it is a great opportunity for us to supply them with power. We are already supplying to seven data centres in Mumbai. As these companies expand to other cities and states, we are in talks with them to supply green as well as conventional power.
Any update on the nuclear energy foray?
We are waiting for details to be announced — such as sourcing of fuel, partnerships, and changes in the legal framework.
