By Sakshi Bansal
Tata Power, an integrated power company in India, along with its subsidiaries and joint ventures, has a generation capacity of 14,707 MW. This capacity spans the entire power value chain, including the generation of renewable and conventional power (such as thermal and hydropower), transmission, distribution and trading. Tata Power has 5,847 MW of installed clean energy capacity, which makes up approximately 40 per cent of its total capacity. The company is focusing strongly on sustainable and clean energy development. It is pursuing growth in emerging areas such as distributed generation via rooftop solar and microgrids, as well as storage solutions, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, energy services, home automation and smart meters.
Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Power, is responsible for developing renewable power projects. TPREL develops, owns, operates and maintains renewable energy projects, including solar, wind, hybrid, round-the-clock (RTC), peak, floating solar and storage systems like battery storage. It also provides engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operations and maintenance solutions for a range of business segments, including utility-scale projects and rooftop solar. As of May 2024, Tata Power’s total renewable utility capacity is 10,009 MW, including 5,411 MW of projects in various stages of implementation. Its operational capacity is 4,598 MW (consisting of solar and wind capacities of 3,568 MW and 1,030 MW, respectively). The company has developed a solar EPC portfolio that includes over 13.8 GWp of ground-mounted utility-scale installations, more than 2 GW of rooftop and distributed ground-mounted systems and has deployed over 100,000 solar water pumps. Moreover, the company is present in the solar manufacturing space and is now expanding its capacity to cater to the growing domestic demand. This article focuses on Tata Power’s recent projects across various clean energy segments…
Recent utility-scale projects
In terms of developing utility-scale projects, TP Saurya Limited, a subsidiary of TPREL, commissioned a 200 MW solar project for Tata Power Trading Company Limited in April 2024. The project is located in Bikaner, Rajasthan, and it aims to integrate energy into the central transmission utility bus. In January 2024, TPREL, in collaboration with Chengmari Tea Estate, commissioned a 1,040 kW bifacial solar system project.
Like other developers of its league, the company is pursuing hybrid and storage power plants to meet the demands of utilities for firm renewable power. In May 2024, TPREL signed a PPA with SJVN Limited for a 460 MW firm and despatchables renewable energy (FDRE) project. This comes after TPREL received a letter of award (LoA) from SJVN in November 2023 for the development of a 200 MW FDRE project. Furthermore, TP Vardhaman Surya Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TPREL, announced in October 2023 to set up a 966 MW solar-wind hybrid plant under the group captive mode.
In the battery storage space, Tata Power Solar Systems Limited (TPSSL), a subsidiary of TPREL, commissioned a solar-and-battery energy storage system (BESS) project in March 2024. The project is located at Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh and consists of a 100 MW PV facility combined with a 120 MWh utility-scale BESS.
Tata Power’s utility, Tata Power Limited, has also been active in this growing hybrid space. Juniper Green Energy Private Limited signed a PPA with Tata Power in April 2024 to set up an 85 MW wind-solar hybrid power project. To be located in Maharashtra, the project combines 51 MW and 34 MW of wind power and solar power, respectively. In September 2023, results were announced for Tata Power’s auction to develop 225 MW of grid-connected wind-solar hybrid projects, both interstate and intra-state, with an additional 225 MW greenshoe option on a long-term basis. Juniper Green Energy and TPREL emerged as winners in the auction, each winning a capacity of 75 MW and 150 MW at a tariff of Rs 3.27 per kWh and Rs 3.28 per kWh, respectively.
In addition to these projects, the company recently signed one large MoU with the Gujarat government and two large MoUs with the Tamil Nadu government for renewable energy development in the states. The MoU with the Gujarat government aims to develop 10,000 MW of renewable energy power projects across multiple sites in Gujarat.
With the Tamil Nadu government, the first MoU details plans to establish renewable energy power projects, totaling 10,000 MW, with investments amounting to Rs 700 billion over the next five to seven years. The second MoU reaffirms the commitment to expand its 4 GW solar cell and solar modules project in Tirunelveli district, with an additional investment of Rs 8 billion. Consequently, in the fourth quarter of 2023-24, Tata Power’s cell and module manufacturing facility in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, with a capacity of 4.3 GW, has begun production and manufactured approximately 130 MW of modules. In addition, the company also has a 530 MW solar cell and 682 MW module manufacturing facility in Bengaluru. Tata Power’s manufacturing arm announced the signing of a contract with NTPC Limited in December 2023 to deliver 152 MWp solar PV modules for NTPC’s Nokh solar project in Rajasthan.
Tata Power is expanding its presence in the transmission space as well. With 1,651 circuit km (ckt km) of pipeline capacity, the company’s transmission portfolio totals 6,277 ckt km, as of May 31, 2024. In February 2024, the company acquired its first-ever greenfield intra-state transmission project – Jalpura Khurja Power Transmission Limited. Located in Uttar Pradesh, the estimated cost of the project is Rs 800 billion. Further, the company received an LoA for the acquisition of Bikaner-III Neemrana-II Transmission Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of PFC Consulting Limited, in December 2023. The project aims to facilitate the evacuation of 7.7 GW of clean energy from the Bikaner complex in Rajasthan for Rs 15 billion.
Focus on distributed renewables
The company has a history of designing and executing innovative projects and foraying into emerging segments. The company has created customisable solutions to cater to a diverse customer base across the residential, micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME), and commercial and industrial (C&I) segments. Tata Power’s rooftop business is focused on providing on-site and off-site (open access or group captive) solutions for customers. It has also been significantly increasing its portfolio in the residential rooftop space as well. Recently, in June 2024, TPSSL initiated its national campaign “GharGharSolar, Tata Power ke Sangh” in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. The initiative aims to motivate consumers to adopt residential solar rooftop solutions.
The company is also undertaking several captive and group captive projects. This includes a power delivery agreement (PDA) between TPREL, Force Motors Limited and Jaya Hind Industries in December 2023 to deliver clean power for 25 years as a part of a group captive scheme. In October 2023, the company signed a number of PDAs for captive and group captive projects. This includes a PDA between TPREL and Mukand Limited for a 43.75 MW AC group captive solar project at Jamkhed, Maharashtra. TPREL and Endurance Technologies Limited signed a PDA for setting up a 12.5MW AC captive solar facility. Further, TPREL, through its SPV, TP Saturn Limited, signed a PDA with Supreme Petrochem Limited for a 12.5 MW group captive project. Both the projects are located at Aachegaon in Maharashtra.
Financing solutions
Apart from the development of renewable energy, the company is also actively involved in promoting financing options for the expansion of clean energy, which is often a key hurdle for smaller renewable energy projects. As per a company announcement in February 2024, TPSSL has enabled customer financing exceeding Rs 35 billion for solar projects over the past four years. Continuing with its focus on providing financing solutions, in April 2024, TPSSL collaborated with Indian Bank to provide residential customers installing rooftop solar systems with a collateral-free loan. The partnership aims to make financing options easier for PV systems up to 3 kW and between 3 and 10 kW, under the Pradhan Mantri Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana programme. Furthermore, TPSSL declared the continuation of its collaboration with Union Bank of India in March 2024. The renewed partnership is geared towards providing financial solutions for residential customers in line with the government’s PM Surya Ghar scheme, as well as catering to the financing needs of C&I customers. Furthermore, TPSSL and Small Industries Development Bank of India signed an MoU in September 2023 to provide MSMEs with easy financing solutions for solar adoption.
Future plans
Going forward, Tata Power plans to achieve carbon neutrality before 2045. The company anticipates to reach 15 GW portfolio of clean energy by 2026-27. Along with standalone solar and wind, the company is focusing on delivering RTC clean energy to its customers through a combination of solar, wind and storage projects in its portfolio.
With its vast experience across generation, transmission and distribution, a huge legacy, strong operational performance and extensive plans across diverse clean energy sectors, Tata Power is expected to maintain its position as one of the strongest integrated power companies in the country.
