Engie will double India’s renewable energy capacity to 2.2 GW by 2025

Engie will double its renewable energy (RE) installed capacity in India to around 2.2 gigawatts (GW) by 2025 as the Indian arm of the French clean energy solutions giant expands its presence in the fourth-largest energy market renewables in the world, investing approximately $870 million, or £7,000 crore.

Engie, which has been operating in India since 2014, has so far invested about $1.1 billion at Tuesday’s exchange rate. Its renewable installed base is 1.1 GW, which includes 800 megawatts (MW) of solar and 250 MW of wind across 7 states.

“We are building 4 new projects that we recently won. One of them, which we have already started construction in Gujarat, is a 400 MW project that we won last year. Three other projects – NTPC (300 MW), NHPC (250 MW) and SECI (100 MW),” said Engie India CEO and Country Manager Amit Jain business line.

Expanding presence

Three projects with a capacity of 650 MW will be launched approximately in mid- or late 2024. Engie is waiting to sign power purchase agreements (PPAs). He has already received the letter of award (LoA), Jain added.

“So we have 1.25 GW in the pipeline and we hope it will be commissioned in late 2025 or early 2026. We will double our capacity from 1.1 GW to approximately 2.2 GW. I think we are looking at a total investment in India of around ₹ 7,000 crore by the end of 2025. This will be a significant investment,” he said.

The Pune-based company aims to expand its capacity to 5 GW by 2030. Its parent company, Engie, which operates in 31 countries and employs over 96,000 professionals, has an installed renewable energy base of 41.4 GW and has generated revenues of approximately $102 billion in 2023

When asked about the importance of India in Engie’s overall growth, Jain pointed out that Engie India aims to add around 800 MW of renewable capacity every year.

“This is a significant investment considering what we do around the world. Globally, our goal is 6 GW per year by 2030. So 800 MW of this is a significant capacity in one country, which we are implementing and we are present in 30 countries. Therefore, I believe that India is gaining importance in the countries we target,” he stressed.

Clean energy solutions

Asked about grid stability issues due to the growing installed base of renewable energy sources, Jain said Engie uses state-of-the-art technology solutions to manage and maintain grid stability.

“We have a GEMS grid or energy management system that we are currently developing in various other markets, including the US and Europe, where there is a high penetration of renewable energy sources. GEMS balances energy demand with the grid,” he added.

Global Energy Management and Sales (GEMS) provides energy supply solutions and risk management services. It offers a wide range of decarbonization solutions to help customers respond to energy and climate challenges.

Praising the government’s efforts to develop energy storage systems such as pumped storage (PSP) and battery energy storage systems (BESS) projects, Jain said, “But at the same time, I think there is a need for someone (market operator) to balance the grid as All right. I think privately we do this as a service to our clients.

Engie aims to be an integrated energy solutions player in India and this is a role the company is successfully playing in various mature markets around the world.