Serentica Renewables, a major round-the-clock (RTC) renewable energy (RE) company plans to rapidly scale up and achieve RE capacity of 17 GW by 2030 with an expected total capex of $15 billion, a senior company official said. Solar is expected to account for 60% of installed capacity while the rest will come from wind.Of the targeted capacity, Serentica is aiming to quadruple its commissioned capacity to 4 GW by 2026 & 7 GW by FY28 by offering round the clock renewable electricity to industries and utilities.
Current operational capacity
The company’s present operational renewable energy capacity stands at 1 GW.“Renewable capacity is all about execution with speed and scale. We took two years to commission 1 GW of wind and solar and will commission another 3 GW in just one year,” the official said.
With its aim to provide Firm and Dispatchable Renewable Energy (FDRE) solutions, Serentica is able to provide time-block level guarantees to its commercial and industrial customers for renewable energy. The company is presently catering to a number of customers at 1 GW commissioned capacity including leading industrial players such as BALCO, Hindustan Zinc, Vedanta Aluminium and Cairn.
Serentica Portfolio
Serentica has a committed capacity portfolio of 7.5 GW, of which 35% are central government auctioned power purchase agreements. A 4 GW green energy capacity will offset 13 million tonne of CO2 emissions annually, the official informed. In the long run, Serentica aims to supply over 50 billion units of clean energy annually that will enable the displacement of 47 million tonne of CO2 emissions.
“The secured PPAs underline the strong market confidence in Serentica’s capabilities. We aim to achieve the 7 GW capacity by FY28. However, we are not stopping there. We plan to rapidly scale up from there and achieve RE capacity of 17 GW by 2030 with an expected total capex of $15 billion,” the official added.
The company’s solar projects are being developed in Rajasthan and Karnataka, while its wind projects are coming up in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. Notably, Serentica has planned 2,500 MW of solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Rajasthan, while it has entered strategic partnerships, such as its collaboration with Greenko Group, to develop 1.5GWh (gigawatt hour) of pumped hydro energy storage across Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
The official pointed out that the company is adequately capitalised to fund the ongoing projects. It had recently secured $100 million in debt financing from global financial institutions Rabobank and Societe Generale to support the development of a 300 MW solar power project in Rajasthan. “We have sufficient credit lines and an equity base to finance the current phase of capacity expansion. We continue to maintain a debt equity ratio of 78:22,” the official said.
Previously, the company mobilised $650 million from KKR and $1.6 billion equivalent of INR debt from state-owned REC and PFC. It also raised a dollar loan of $425 million for a 530 MW round-the-clock renewable energy project in Rajasthan and Maharashtra that was facilitated by a consortium of international and Indian lenders.