candi solar Aims To Touch 200 MW Capacity In India By FY25: Nishant Sood

candi solar Aims To Touch 200 MW Capacity In India By FY25: Nishant Sood

How a solar company from Switzerland planned to invest in India?

The main purpose of candi solar our company was to provide access to solar energy to industries, commercial entities, and any business entity that otherwise couldn’t access it. When we began our operations in India, around six years ago, PPA contracts were complex—70 pages long tenures like 25 years. Access to funding was also hard to obtain. Our main goal was to make solar accessible to these businesses.

India was a natural focus due to its booming industries and rapid growth. People here also recognize the importance of solar energy, whether from a business or environmental perspective. We decided to focus on emerging economies like India, as it’s often more difficult for people there to access solar compared to developed countries with a wide range of options.

Currently, you have a presence in three regions: Switzerland, India, and South Africa. What is your total installed capacity globally?

Our total installed capacity in India is around 75 MW, and globally, we are touching 100+ MW globally. Our installations are basically in India and South Africa. In Switzerland, we have a core team that supports both the Indian and South African markets. Our main areas of business in India and South Africa. We aim to exceed 200 MW in India alone by the end of this year, and our overall target is to reach 1 GW in the next five years.

What differentiates candi solar from others in this competitive market? Is it 100% financing, or are there other factors that make you stand out?

If I were to sum it up in one word, it would be innovation. We try to innovate wherever we can. Our focus is on distributed solar, bringing it closer to industries and businesses in India. Over the past 10 years, the solar industry has evolved, but major developers still tend to focus on investment-grade or A-rated companies. Few financiers cater to companies below that, like those in the BB rating space. Our first innovation was to serve this underfunded market. We developed an in-house credit rating system customized for solar projects, allowing us to assess creditworthiness and provide financing where others couldn’t.

Another area of innovation is in our products. When we started in 2018-2019, we offered simpler, shorter PPAs—20 pages with 10 to 15 years of agreements—whereas the market standard was 70-page, 25-year contracts which were complex too. We tried to make the whole PPA experience more simpler for the clients. We also offer various financing solutions, such as loan-oriented and performance-based contracts, which provide tax benefits and allow us to offer better tariffs than anyone else in the market.

Lastly, we need to reduce customer acquisition and asset management costs. Our assets are distributed across 15 states in India, so we rely heavily on automation for customer acquisition and asset management. This includes using robotic cleaning and other semi-automated technologies to assist our team. So, in short, innovation is the key that helps us stay ahead in various aspects of the business.

How is the awareness of solar growing in India’s C&I segment, and which states are you focusing on?

The awareness of solar is definitely increasing year by year. While we see occasional challenges due to policy or regulatory changes like taxations, wheeling charges and others, the overall awareness is high, and I see the market growing further.

In terms of states, we focus on regions with a good mix of industries, a favorable regulatory environment, and relatively high electricity tariffs, as this creates greater incentive for businesses to go solar. We already have installations across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, and others. Smaller installations are in West Bengal, Odisha, and Assam, but we plan to continue growing across these regions.

With the cost of energy production and storage coming down, how does this affect your business? 

The cost of energy storage is decreasing, but I think it’s where solar was about 10 years ago. While we’ve seen demand for storage rise in markets like South Africa, where grid reliability is a concern, in India, the need for storage is not as urgent. When comparing solar plus storage to diesel generators, solar is slightly cheaper, but prices need to come down further before storage becomes widely adopted in India.