Renewable energy continues to gain traction in the country, with both public sector companies and private players pursuing ambitious renewable energy goals. Attractive prices, an enabling policy regime and ready off-takers have led to a slew of project announcements by public sector power majors. Moreover, many of them are actively bidding and competing with private players to win large renewable power projects. In this context, SJVN Green Energy Limited, a subsidiary of SJVN Limited, has come to the forefront with successive wins in recent auctions and its own innovative tenders as an implementing agency. At Renewable Watch’s recent conference on “Solar Power in India”, the company’s chief executive officer, Ajay Kumar Singh, highlighted the company’s renewable energy plans the growth trajectory. Edited excerpts…
SJVN Limited was incorporated in 1988. It is a central public sector undertaking (CPSU) under the Ministry of Power, Government of India. It was founded as a joint venture (JV) company between the Government of India and the Himachal Pradesh government, with 25 per cent equity held by the latter and the rest by the former. However, the company is now listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. According to the current shareholding pattern of SJVN, 55 per cent shares are held by the Government of India, 26.85 by the Himchal Pradesh government and 18.15 by the public.
The total installed capacity of SJVN Limited is around 2,400 MW, which includes both hydro and renewables. Meanwhile, its total project portfolio, including its project pipeline, amounts to over 56 GW. Apart from hydro, renewables and thermal, SJVN is also involved in the transmission space. It has three 400 kV transmission systems, with each consisting of 340 km of transmission lines. Two of these transmission systems are currently coming up between India and Nepal.
We have a total of five subsidiaries and JVs. The first is SJVN Arun-3 Power Development Company Private Limited, for the construction of the 900 MW Arun-3 and 490 MW Arun-4 hydro projects in Nepal. To evacuate this power from Nepal to India, we are constructing a 400 kV line from Nepal to Sitamarhi in Bihar. The second subsidiary is SJVN Lower Arun Power Development Company Private Limited, for another 669 MW hydro project in Nepal, downstream of Arun-3.
The third subsidiary is SJVN Thermal Private Limited, for the construction of the 1,320 MW Buxar Thermal Power Project in Chausa, Bihar. The fourth is SJVN Green Energy Limited (SGEL), for the implementation of renewable power projects. Apart from these, recently, we formed a JV with Assam Power Development Corporation Limited named SGEL Assam Renewable Energy Limited.
A single, shared vision has been formulated for all of SJVN Limited in terms of targeted power capacity additions. So, by 2030, we are targeting 25 GW of total installed power capacity, which is expected to be doubled to 50 GW by 2040.
SJVN started its ambitious journey of business expansion in the field of renewable energy in 2020 and has increased its renewable energy portfolio multi-fold, from merely 5.6 MW in 2020 to approximately 7.2 GW now. Currently, the share of renewables in our total power capacity is around 17 per cent.
By 2030, we are targeting 14 GW of non-hydro renewables, which means that the renewable energy share in our total installed power capacity would be around 55 per cent. And by 2040, we are planning to set up 33 GW of renewables’ capacity, taking our renewable energy share to 65 per cent.
SGEL is a 100 per cent-owned subsidiary of SJVN Limited, created on March 31, 2022, with a specific focus on the addition of renewable energy. The Government of India aims to have 500 GW of renewable energy installed capacity and 50 per cent of its electricity requirement being met by renewables by 2030, with India becoming a net zero economy by 2070.
So, at SGEL, we are aiming to install at least 3 per cent of the Government of India’s renewable energy target by 2030. We intend to add 1.5 GW-2 GW of renewables every year through this company to achieve the desired energy mix and the shared vision of SJVN.
We are resorting to three pathways to achieve this target. First, we are participating in the tariff-based auction process and bagging renewable projects by bidding in tenders floated by various central and state agencies across India. Second, we have signed MoUs with different state governments for the allocation of renewable energy projects. For example, we have already signed MoUs with the state governments of Rajasthan, Assam and Odisha. Third, we are forming JV companies with state governments for the development of renewable energy projects. We are even thinking of signing JV agreements with private sector companies.
Our renewable energy portfolio today is almost 7.4 GW. Interestingly, all of it has been backed through participation in the tariff-based bidding process, and not even a single MW is from allocation or any other mode. Of the 7.4 GW, we already have signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for about 6.5 GW. So, we have revenue visibility for 25 years. Further, these projects are spread across the country, and we have a presence in at least nine states.
We have a total of 404.5 MW of projects under operation. We have commissioned three projects in Uttar Pradesh–one completed last year and the remaining two just a few months ago. These projects – Guraha (75 MW), Gujrai (50 MW) and Parashar (75 MW) – are all near Kanpur in Jalon district. We are also operating two wind projects, Sadla (50 MW) in Gujarat and Khirvire (47.6 MW) in Maharashtra. We have also developed a 100 MW solar power station in Raghanseda Solar Park, Gujarat.
We have around 2 GW of project capacity under construction. We are constructing one of India’s biggest non-park single-location solar projects, with a capacity of 1,000 MW, in Bikaner. This project is part of the government’s solar CPSU scheme and we have bagged this from Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency. Bidding for this project was done on viability gap funding basis. Construction is well underway, and everything is complete except for module installation. We are aiming to commission the full project by December 2024, This project which will be a big boost to our operational portfolio.
We are also developing our first floating solar project, with a capacity of 90 MW, on Omkareshwar Dam in Madhya Pradesh. It is ready to be commissioned soon. This project is part of a larger one, with Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited as the nodal agency. In terms of challenges, the biggest issue is that we get input data for water bodies from the reservoir agencies, and the project’s anchoring and mooring design is done based on the reservoir’s level variation data. So, if this data is not correct, then the design will also be incorrect.
We also have about 5 GW of projects in the pre-construction stage, which means that either they are in the tendering stage, or we have already floated the tender for them. Of this, around 1 GW will enter the construction stage in two to three months. Much of this capacity is in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Apart from what we are doing in the developer mode, we are also working as an intermediary in the form of a renewable energy implementing agency (REIA). In April 2023, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy designated SJVN Limited as REIA. It joined the existing three REIAs – Solar Energy Corporation of India, NHPC Limited and NTPC Limited. These REIAs have been assigned the task of floating renewable energy tenders to the tune of 50 GW per year, or 12.5 GW per REIA per year, up to 2028. We have designed different products for this, such as firm and despatchable renewable energy, plain vanilla solar and wind, and hybrid renewable energy projects.
As a developer, one of the major issues that we face is land acquisition. In recent times, most tenders require land to be arranged by the developer, which is a challenging task for us. Only a few tenders are renewable energy park-related, where land is provided by the implementing agency. The issue is that once a PPA is signed, we get 18 months for project completion. In this period, we must arrange land, issue a balance of system tender, select a contractor, source solar modules and even get transmission connectivity. Both land and transmission connectivity continue to be big hurdles.
Transmission is a challenge particularly for interstate transmission systems. For instance, in Rajasthan and Gujarat, the two main states for renewable energy development, existing transmission connectivity has already been utilised for the coming years. New connectivity is likely to come up only from 2026-27 onwards. Thus, at the government level, some measures are required for the augmentation of substation and other transmission system capacities.
