Founded by the Malaysian oil and gas giant Petronas, Gentari was established in 2022. In line with traditional energy companies diversifying their energy baskets to become bigger, cleaner and greener, Petronas founded Gentari as an independent clean energy solutions platform. Gentari has since carved out a niche in three clear business verticals – renewables, green hydrogen and its derivatives, and green mobility – to provide integrated decarbonisation solutions for its clients across the utility and commercial and industrial (C&I) spaces. Although Petronas has been present in the Indian renewables market since 2018 through its acquisition of Amplus, Gentari was launched with bigger targets across various clean energy solutions and now includes Amplus under its umbrella.
In the renewables space, the company has a global portfolio of 3.6 GW, comprising installed and under-construction projects in the solar, wind and battery spaces. In India, it has over 2.9 GW of operating and under-construction projects, followed by 422 MW in Australia and over 100 MW in its home country, Malaysia. The company currently serves more than 400 C&I consumers in India and provides various solutions in the on-site and off-site segments.
With India’s renewable energy sector expansion driven by evolving regulatory frameworks and innovative business models, renewables generators are modifying their strategies to accommodate a larger and more diverse client base. Therefore, Gentari is also foraying into diverse segments with a host of offerings across the solar, wind and hybrid segments to expand its portfolio.
For instance, making use of India’s extensive interstate transmission system (ISTS) networks, the company ventured into the ISTS-connected project space with the commissioning of its largest solar project of 363 MW in Rajasthan in January 2024. While this project is for C&I clients, the company has been exploring bidding for such large projects in auctions to identify additional avenues for scaling up capacity. Gentari is in the process of commissioning another large project of 180 MW, this time a solar-wind hybrid project for C&I clients, located in the state of Tamil Nadu.
These large projects across the ISTS and hybrid segments are preparing the company for a logical foray into the round-the- clock (RTC) renewables space, a critical requirement for not only C&I clients but also for utilities looking for firm renewable power. Gentari has secured RTC power agreements from AM Green for its 1 million tonne per annum (mtpa) green ammonia project in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. It will cater to 50 per cent of the project’s RTC renewables requirement and NTPC will provide the rest.
On the green mobility side, the company has launched the “Gentari Go” mobile application in Delhi, which not only identifies and gives access to electric vehicle (EV) charging stations but also allows customers to choose renewables-based EV charging solutions. Gentari has partnerships with organisations such as Static, Numocity and ChargeZone, giving it access to more than 1,500 charge points across the country, which continues to grow. The company also has partnerships with large corporates such as Tata Motors, Amazon and Gati to help them in their decarbonisation journeys, where it is also offering its vehicle-as-a-service offering.
While the company does not have specific targets for the Indian market, it aims to install 30-40 GW of renewable energy and supply up to 1.2 mtpa of clean hydrogen in the coming years in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market. India will be an important market for the company in its growth strategy, as the company continues to grow its APAC portfolio.
On the plus side, Gentari has years of experience and a favourable standing in the Indian renewables space, especially in the C&I space owing to Amplus. The company, through Amplus, has an extensive roster of clients with projects spread across the country, which will aid it in its future growth plans. However, the Indian renewables market is highly competitive and extremely price-sensitive, especial- ly in the utility-scale space, with various IPPs already having amassed multi-GW portfolios through years of aggressive bidding in auctions. Moreover, some of these players have been present in the hybrid and ISTS spaces for years, with broader experiences in both the regulatory and technology aspects. Meanwhile, the markets for both e-mobility and green hydrogen are still nascent and evolving, making the company suitably placed to grow in these spaces.
Thus, Gentari has its work cut out as it navigates these choppy waters of the mature but dynamic Indian clean energy market.
By Khushboo Goyal
