Page 10 - AsianOil Week 03 2023

AsianOil ENERGY TRANSITION AsianOil

Thailand’s PTT looks to Indian solar

THAILAND THAILAND’S PTT Public Company Limited “Now, ReNew are commissioned. So there is
(PTT), the nation’s state-owned oil and gas a familiarity that already exists,” the same source
The project is one of the giant, is once again looking to increase its stake added.
largest of its kind in the in India’s ReNew Power. There is talk of trouble behind the scenes at
world, with a planned This time it is seeking to secure a 49% share in ReNew, though, with company stock close to its
capacity of 3.3mn the solar assets of ReNew Power, and discussions own record low of $5.06, a number recorded in
tonnes per year. between the two energy giants of southern Asia December 2021, after a much lauded initial list-
are now underway. ing price of $11 in the summer of the same year.
At stake is a total of 3 GW of solar energy gen- A large part of the ReNew portfolio is under-
erating assets currently on the ReNew portfolio stood to be made up of Solar Energy Corpora-
of 4.10 GW of already commissioned capacity as tion of India (SECI) bids, which come with an
part of an overall total of 13.4 GW of wind and estimated construction cost of between 7 and 7.5
solar assets. times the projected enterprise value and earn-
With ReNew one of India’s leading renewa- ings potential.
bles firms of late, this is not the first time PTT Average feed-in tariffs (FiTs) on the SECI-
has shown an interest in the firm. During the linked infrastructure at present are a reported
early months of the COVID pandemic in mid- INR2.3 to INR3 per unit ($0.028-0.037).
2020, PTT initiated talks with New York-based Power purchase agreements (PPAs) across
Goldman Sachs with a view to acquiring half of India, however, average out at slightly below 20
its share in the company for over $2.2bn. years, which in turn allows long-term investors
Negotiations between the investment bank- to predict eventual profitability margins meas-
ing powerhouse and PTT ended with no solid ured against initial losses incurred in the con-
conclusion later the same year, although PTT struction and early years phase.
maintained an interested in renewables devel- As such, any PTT purchase is thought to be a
opments on the subcontinent. longer-term investment for the Bangkok-based
As a result, in 2021 PTT invested $453mn conglomerate, with its stated goal of renewable
in purchasing a 41.6% stake in the Mumbai energy investments to the tune of 12 GW by
up-and-comer Avaada Energy despite the firm 2030, a figure up 50% on previous goals of 8 GW.
having only been established in 2017. Not all of this will be based overseas, how-
To many in Asian renewables circles the latest ever, as PTT also recently snapped up a $100mn
PTT overtures to ReNew did therefore come as investment in the Thailand-based solar arm of
something of a shock given the rivalry between Canadian multinational Brookfield Renewable
Avaada and ReNew. Partners, albeit in a nation in which just 3% of
At least one source close to Avaada stated in the total energy mix is currently made up of solar
the local media that the firm has “an exclusive power, according to the International Energy
arrangement with the Thai Group in India”. Agency (IEA).
“Two years ago when they (PTT) first did an No public comment has yet been made by
exhaustive diligence on the company, many of PTT Group on the most recent talks, with a
the assets were under construction,” one energy spokesperson from ReNew Power only adding
industry analyst said when interviewed in the that “as a policy, we do not comment on market
wake of the talks being made public. speculation.”™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 03 20•January•2023