Waaree Renewable Technologies Expects A Likely Rise Of Orders From PSUs

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Waaree Group’s EPC arm, Waaree Renewable Technologies Limited, is now anticipating a rise in opportunities for solar developers in India in the coming days. This is likely to see a transition of the order books of the developers, the top management opined in a recent investors call. 

Dilip Panjwani, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Waaree Renewable, told its investors in its recent conference call that the majority of the orders it received had been from the Independent Power Producers (IPP) but the orders from Indian Public Sector Utilities (PSUs) are also slated to escalate in coming days. 

“…out of the 750 odd megawatt that we are mentioning, a bulk is still from utility IPP. But from the pipeline, definitely movement is happening towards PSU. From under 10%, we should be definitely, significantly movement towards PSUs. You know, that’s a big segment that is coming up and no one can ignore that segment. So as we speak, you know, we have bid in a couple of days, you know, with the PSU. And, you know, every couple of weeks, there’s going to be a bid from PSU segment. So there could be a shift from utility IPP, our private sector to government-slash-PSU segment as well,” Panjwani said. 

The top management of the firm told its investors that it has around 749 MW of unexecuted orders while its bidding pipeline stood at 9GW. It also said that it has planned to execute its order books for 900-950 MW by FY24 out of which it has already executed 473 MW of projects. 

Waaree Renewable Technologies records.             Source: Investors’s presentation (up to Q3Fy24)

Panjwani also explained that bagging orders in the PSU segment and the utility-scale segment are two different ball games. He said that in PSU projects, it is the competitive prices that dominate the orders, but in the utility segment and C&I, experience and optimisation work well.

“…You know, we have mentioned this previously as well, in government and other ways, there’s a tender bidding, there tends to be a competitive intensity, and margins tend to shrink and our share in that segment is very negligible. However, when you move towards, I answered this as to why we should get contracts, that is there, when the private sector, when you go to utility IPP and other segments, people choose you not because of competitive intensity, people choose you because you are set apart from others, in terms of your capability and vintage heritage experience, whatever inverted commas you want to put.” the Waaree Technologies CFO said.

When asked about the firm’s plans to participate in rooftop solar contracts under PM Suryodaya Scheme, the top management of Waaree Technologies said that it would focus mostly on large solar projects of MW scale.