Viz-A-Viz with Pawan Kumar Pandey, Director | Radite Energy Infra Solutions Pvt. Ltd

Q. Please tell our readers about Radite Energy, its operations, projects and products.

Established almost 1.5 years back, Radite was started with a vision of providing quality installation and commissioning services in solar energy projects. In this short duration, we have already commissioned power projects of total 200 MW in India. We are planning to expand our businesses in the manufacturing of solar structure system and also going for development of few projects in India and Burma on BOOT model. Last year our turnover was 1.8 million USD and this year we targeting to achieve a turnover of 2.5 million USD.

Q. The total allocation for infrastructure development in 2017-18 stands at Rs 3, 96,135 crores, this is definitely going to boost economy, jobs & consumption. How these allocations will affect the energy sector?

Make in India is an excellent initiative taken by our PM to boost the Indian manufacturers and the market. Lot of focus has been put to reduce cost of the solar equipment to achieve 100 GW target by 2022. The government’s Make in India initiative will not only save import cost but also reduce foreign currency outflow. The benefit of promoting solar in India is to make sure that it fulfills our dream of energy security in the country. Upsurge in allocation for infrastructure development will result in rise of energy demand in the industrial sector. The government has decided take up the second phase of solar park development to meet this demand.

India is well on its to 100 per cent electrification of villages by May 2019 and the government has allocated Rs 4,843 crore for electrification in financial year 2017-18 under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana in 2017-18. The BJP led government has so far take decisive steps to develop key infrastructure components. It should promote projects which harness renewable energy sources by giving them special emphasis and announcing incentives. We as partners of country’s solar mission need to be self-reliant on technology and believe on the entire system.

Q. What is your take on GST? What kind of impact do you see in the renewable segment with this?

Before implementation of GST the solar sector enjoyed lot of exemption and benefits, but imposition of 18% tax on the solar will impact in a huge way. Factors like dump duties, removal of some lower rate duties and taxes on capital good & services , some sort of concession in statutory compliance etc. will create imbalance where input related to execution and commissioning of plants are under GST, while output is kept out from GST. This will increase on current tariff and PPA. Looking into the current scenario, we can expect the rise of the solar tariffs that government tried to reduce in last few month. However, availability of input tax credit is expected to reduce operating costs and CAPEX cost. Thus, the impact on profit margins could be small but still this would lead to more rooftop assignment in India.

Q. What are the current and potential challenges that solar EPC sector facing in India?

Opportunities are at galore. Power distribution sectors are adopting various new technologies to reduce distribution losses and working ceaselessly towards quality power with security. Radite is not only capable but also trying together to adopt timely technologies to be in race. Major Challenges are:

• To live up to the expectation of developers manufacturers and utilities by meeting their demand on time in cost effective manner.

• Generating awareness of importance of accuracy, reliability to meet their demand.

• Still we are cost cautious which has to convert in quality and reliability.

• Lower rate of tariff is most challenging now a days for players like us .

Q. Please share about your total cumulative capacity installed as on date and are you facing any kind operational challenges from these solar plants?

Total capacity executed till date on ground mounted solar projects is more than 200 MW and in rooftops the cumulative capacity is more than 2.5 MW. Solar power plants are running with full load and so far performances are very good. Major challenges come with timely cashflow and payments from clients.

Q. Who are your partners for solar projects in the country and how do you choose you partners for projects?

Major partners (Clients) are ACME, Harsha, Adani, Mytrah and Enerparc and many more. The clients are decided based on the project portfolio, financial strengths and till date track records. As far as vendors are concerned we have number of tie-ups for structure supply and labour supply and mostly we work on direct working at site.

Q. What are the projects that you are coming up with this financial year?

This financial year we are targeting projects in Karnataka, Rajasthan, UP, Maharashtra and Odisha. Total capacity expected this year will be more than 200 MW on I&C model and also targeting to get some turnkey and self-development projects with total capacity of 30 MW.

Q. What kind of due diligence is done before you start operation of the project (s)?

Before taking up the project or starting operation of the project diligence is done based on the past credentials and financial strength of the clients. The track record of the client and market feedback is also been considered before finalizing the contract.

Q. How Radite Energy is planning to create competitive advantage and emerge as formidable player in rooftop segment?

Being technocrats we are offering end to end solutions for our clients. We have tie ups for supply of structure, in-house structure design and in-house execution team. We are offering both BOOT (Build Own Operate and Transfer) and CAPEX model to our clients.

Q. Share your views on how adoption of rooftop solar can be propelled in the country.

Rooftop projects are going to be the future for solar industry. With the use of rooftop solar major problem of light fluctuation and transmission losses will go down. This will help country to grow faster and achieve its targets to become super power with green energy.