Established in 2013, TrueRE Oriana Power is positioning itself across the renewable value chain: from rooftop and ground-mounted solar to floating solar projects, battery energy storage systems (BESSs) and emerging e-fuels. In an interview with Renewable Watch, Rupal Gupta, Founder, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer; Parveen Kumar Jangra, Co-Founder, Chief Technical & Operating Officer; and Anirudh Saraswat, Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer, TrueRE Oriana Power Limited, discussed the company’s portfolio, green fuel strategy, emerging segments, supply chain resilience and its future growth plans. Edited excerpts…
Can you summarise Oriana Power’s current business focus and portfolio across all the segments?
TrueRE Oriana Power initially began as a pure engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) player but has evolved over the years into an end-to-end renewables player spanning generation, storage and consumption. The company’s business covers solar projects in multiple formats including rooftop, carports, open-access and ground-mounted solar projects, as well as floating solar projects; green hydrogen and its derivatives on the consumption front; and more recently, BESS, and agro-PV. We have a renewable portfolio of more than 500 MW, with roughly 500 MW under construction across all the segments. Our floating solar portfolio includes more than four completed projects and several others in the pipeline. In the storage segment, a BESS project pipeline of approximately 1 GWh is planned for execution over the next 8 to 18 months.
Do you have active plans or pilots for green hydrogen or green methanol production? Are there any offtake strategies in place?
Our green hydrogen projects are in their early execution phases. We are currently developing three such large-scale projects, including a 60,000 metric tonnes per annum green ammonia project for a fertiliser company based in Madhya Pradesh; a 225 tonnes per day e-methanol plant under development in Uttar Pradesh; and a similar project with comparable planning in Maharashtra. In the case of e-methanol, captured carbon dioxide from nearby industrial units will be used alongside electrolytic hydrogen.
Are you seeing increased demand for storage and hybrid solutions? What are the cost trends, and which service offerings is TrueRE Oriana Power providing to cater to demand?
Demand for storage and hybrid solutions is rising sharply, as grid infrastructure has reached a saturation point in several states, and price volatility between daytime and evening peak power has widened. Since strengthening transmission infrastructure as a means to address this is capital-intensive and time-consuming, energy storage is the more immediate and practical solution. While pumped storage projects (PSPs) offer lower long-term energy costs, their long gestation period limits near-term adoption, making BESS the more feasible option.
We are currently executing large-scale lithium-ion BESS projects, while also evaluating sodium-ion technologies to reduce import dependence over time. In parallel, compact PSPs are being explored, which offer shorter construction timelines compared to conventional PSPs and better internal rate of return (IRR).
How does TrueRE Oriana Power navigate through fluctuations in the module and battery prices? What parameters do you track for project IRRs?
We manage price volatility primarily through long-term partnerships and price commitment with core original equipment manufacturers before participating in tenders, ensuring that bids are backed by supplier assurances. Currency risk is addressed through selective dollar hedging, while forward purchasing is undertaken in limited cases where project timelines and execution certainty are clear. Rather than evaluating margins on a case-to-case or project-to-project basis, the business is planned over multi-year horizons. Across a portfolio of bids, higher-margin projects are expected to offset those with moderate or lower margins, allowing targeted returns to be achieved on an annual basis. In parallel, returns are enhanced by optimising revenue from existing assets, using storage or operational flexibility to capture additional demand peaks, thereby improving cash flows without increasing installed capacity.
Project IRRs are, hence, influenced by several interlinked factors. These include geopolitical factors, with several institutional funds selling their assets and moving out of India, given the recent uncertainty. Macroeconomic factors such as equity availability, debt interest rates and borrowing tenors are also present, with current debt costs in India remaining elevated, and currency fluctuations, particularly for the US dollar, directly impacting equipment costs and tariffs. While current market conditions have placed pressure on returns, the expectation is that pricing and financing will stabilise over time as markets adjust.
How exposed is the Indian supply chain to geopolitical tensions?
Geopolitical tensions have had a limited impact on the Indian renewable supply chain compared to earlier years, largely because a significant portion of project sourcing has shifted domestically. At present, close to 50 per cent of overall project components are sourced domestically, and up to 80–90 per cent of modules used are manufactured domestically. This insulates the Indian market from geopolitical risks. This is the result of sustained government support under the Make in India framework, including various schemes and tax benefits. Dependence remains, particularly for solar cells, where Chinese imports are still required. However, this is a transitional phase. With the Approved List of Manufacturers and Models-II being mandated, more than 100 GW of solar cell manufacturing capacity being under development, and an annual domestic demand of around 25–30 GW, supply is expected to exceed demand over time, improving price stability and supply security.
What partnerships are central to TrueRE Oriana Power’s growth plans?
Our growth strategy is centred on collaboration across India and select international markets to scale faster and benefit from global best practices. In India, we are working with state governments to secure the right project enablers early, such as land, infrastructure and regulatory alignment, and we have MoUs with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Assam for integrated renewable and storage developments. On the capital and platform side, we are partnering to build larger portfolios efficiently, with a joint development platform with Actis for GW-scale assets and ongoing discussions through Invest Alberta to explore international opportunities and learnings. At the same time, we are tying up with global technology providers to move faster on storage, green hydrogen and its derivatives.
What are the biggest execution bottlenecks facing renewable projects today?
Land acquisition and aggregation remain a primary challenge, driven by high costs, unclear ownership and long timelines. Additionally, many projects are technically ready but delayed due to incomplete transmission lines, substations or evacuation capacity. On the technology side, BESS and green hydrogen are still evolving, with uncertainties around long-term performance and lifecycle economics. Regulatory and policy-related hurdles in state-level permitting and open access rules further add friction, especially with the absence of harmonised frameworks across regions. The lack of supporting infrastructure and limited tender visibility for the green hydrogen segment also adds to the regulatory hurdles.
How are you tackling the challenge of land availability in particular?
To address land scarcity, two types of projects can be implemented. One, agro-PV projects, where solar modules are installed at an elevated height of around 4 metres, allowing agricultural machinery and farming activity to continue beneath the panels. Crop selection is aligned with lower-sunlight requirements, typically in the 20–50 per cent range, and can enable power generation and agriculture to coexist on the same parcel of land.
Two, floating solar projects on reservoirs and other water bodies that have no competing land use. Having already deployed several floating solar projects over the past three years, our confidence in this technology has increased. We have early-mover experience in this segment, executing our first project in 2019. We also have partnerships with international floating solar players, as well as in-house expertise in anchoring and mooring systems. We recently completed a floating solar project in Rajasthan on mine-covered water bodies where heavy in-water loads were deployed without conventional anchoring.
What are your policy recommendations?
As the sector enters a phase of rapid expansion, there is a strong case for faster and more coordinated policy action on the consumption side, including storage, green hydrogen and emerging data centres. A key recommendation is the introduction of a unified policy framework across major industrial and non-industrial states to reduce regulatory fragmentation. Integrated policies covering land, regulatory approvals and new energy technologies are also required, with a shift away from purely lowest bidder (L1)-driven procurement models towards frameworks that support scalability, especially in an era where other countries are scaling fast with the help of green hydrogen and artificial intelligence.
What is your company’s plans for scaling its renewables footprint over the next five years?
By 2030, our targets include scaling solar EPC capacity to around 6 GW, building an independent power producer portfolio of more than 2.5 GW, and a BESS portfolio of up to 20 GWh. Our long-term goal for the e-fuels and green hydrogen segments includes a production capacity of up to 1 million metric tonnes per annum, alongside more initiatives in data centres and CCUS.
Beyond India, we are evaluating renewable, storage and hydrogen opportunities in overseas markets, particularly in regions with high power tariffs, decarbonisation requirements and strong solar resources, such as parts of Africa. These international plans are being approached cautiously, with emphasis on mitigating political, payment and financing risks. We see potential in being an exporter of clean energy, especially to European countries, given their land scarcity, and industry requirements, through green molecules. Port-linked green hydrogen hub projects, hence, play an important role in both the company’s strategy as well as for India’s energy security.
