Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 24 2021

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

Sembcorp to buy up solar and

wind projects in India

INDIA SINGAPORE’S Sembcorp is looking to acquire capability which delivers operational efficiency
Indian solar and wind projects as it aims to quad- higher than peers at lower costs,” he said.
ruple its Indian renewable capacity to 10 GW The company aims to have 10 GW of capacity
by 2025 and turn its generating portfolio from in India by 2025 through bidding for central and
brown to green. state projects as well as acquisitions and expan-
Sembcorp would like to buy both under-con- sions, he said.
struction and completed solar and wind projects, “We are looking at a number of acquisitions
Sembcorp Energy India Ltd (SEIL) Managing at the moment. These could be (wind and solar)
Director Vipul Tuli said, India’s PTI reported.. farms adjacent (to SEIL projects), or they could
Sembcorp has already invested S$6.5bn in be good projects with a pact to sell electricity,”
electricity-generating projects in India, and it he said.
keen to taek advantage of the country’s’ rising Also, under construction projects could be
energy demand. another key target as Sembcorp has a good track
“We have decided to move the portfolio from record of commissioning, he said. “If it is already
brown to green,” Tuli said, adding the firm was running project, because of our superior oper-
targeting 70% of its profit from renewable energy ations and maintenance (O&M) capability, we
in 2025, up from 40% cent in 2020. could buy at that stage also.”
The company plans to shift its portfolio from “Funding is not an issue at all. We have a
“brown to green” and quadruple its renewable strong shareholder,” he said referring to SEIL’’s
capacity to 10 GW by 2025 from 2.6 GW in 2020. parent Singapore firm.
The company has committed to halving its While the parent firm can bring in capital and
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, from also has the capacity to raise debt, internal accru-
a 2010 baseline, and achieving net-zero emis- als of SEIL were strong and capital recycling
sions by 2050. could also be done to optimise returns, he said.
“ India is very central for Sembcorp,” he said. “We are expanding headcount, we are creat-
“A little less than half of Sembcorp assets are in ing a pipeline for growth,” he said.
India.” Sembcorp already operates in China, South
SEIL has energy assets totalling 4.8 GW East Asia, India and the UK.
capacity in operation and under construction “Unlike the fund-driven players, for us, there
in India. Of this, 2.1 GW is renewable energy is no limit. We have a strong shareholder. We are
projects. committed to 10 GW and we have enough visi-
“We have a strong track record of deliver- bility for that target. Show me viable project and
ing renewable energy projects and an O&M funding will be there,” he said.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 24 16•June•2021