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Orient Green Power

India’s Orient Green Power To Exit Biomass Power Market

written by saurabh

With increased spotlight on solar and wind energy sectors in India major renewable energy player is looking to exit the biomass power sector.

Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange-listed renewable energy generator Orient Green Power Limited has announced plans to sell off its biomass power business. The biomass power business is making loss dragging the entire company which includes several wind energy assets as well.

The company is on track to sell a 20 megawatt cogeneration plant in the state of Maharashtra. The power plant which uses sugarcane residue as fuel for power and heat generation will be sold off to a host sugar mill. Another biomass power plant of 10 megawatts will be sold off in Rajasthan.

Losses in the biomass power sector increased sharply over the years as scale of operations and revenues dwindled. The company shelved a plan to de-merge and list the biomass power business.

Orient Green Power reported revenue of ₹78 crore ($12.1 million) and loss of ₹81 crore ($12.6 million) last financial year. The company also has an outstanding debt of ₹193 crore ($29.9 million).

The company believes that the loss-making biomass power business is dragging the wind energy business. Among all the renewable energy technologies biomass and biofuel cogeneration have received less attention from the government, regulators and project developers.

India has announced specific targets as well as market mechanisms for wind and solar power sectors but not for biomass and biofuel cogeneration. Both, wind and solar power sectors have moved from feed-in tariff regime to competitive auctions but other technologies, including biomass, haven’t. This has made solar and wind power far more attractive to utilities as auctions have reduced their tariffs to cheaper than those of most thermal power plants.

Therefore, it makes complete sense for developers like Orient Green Power to reduce their liabilities and focus on technologies that find favour from the government and as well as the market.

07/16/2017 0 comment

Renewable Energy

India’s Orient Green Power Eyes 1 GW Wind Energy Capacity In 3-4 Years

written by saurabh

Chennai-based wind generation company, Orient Green Power, joint venture between Shriram EPC and Bessemer Venture Partners has announced plans to achieve 1,000 MW installed wind energy capacity over the next 3-4 years.

Taking advantage of Indian government ambitious wind energy initiatives, Orient Green Power is keen to increase its wind energy portfolio across the country with an estimated investment of Rs 1,000 crore (US$150 million).

According to S Venkatachalam, Managing director of Orient Green Power, the company has a huge scope to almost double its wind energy portfolio by targeting 1,000 MW over the next few years. Currently, company has an operational capacity of around 425 MW and 57 MW of projects at various stages of development.

Orient Green Power plans to add over 100 MW per year to achieve this target. Company also plans to add 47 MW of additional capacity to its existing 50.54 MW wind farm at Tadipatri in Andhra Pradesh.

The company had reported a loss of Rs 22.7 crore (US$3.4 million) in the first quarter of financial year 2016-17 mainly because utilities did not take power from the wind projects due to lack of grid availability in Tamil Nadu. To overcome the huge loss, company has sought restructuring of the debt under the 5:25 scheme launched by Reserve Bank of India last year which enables infrastructure loans to be extended up to 25 years which an option of refinancing after every five years.

Orient Green currently has operational wind assets in Tamil Nadu (308 MW), Andhra Pradesh (75 MW), Gujarat (29 MW) and Karnataka (1 MW) and 11 MW in Europe. It is also planning to expand in Maharashtra and Rajasthan.

09/24/2016 0 comment

Renewable Energy

Indian Wind Power Companies See Surge In Generation

written by saurabh

Good monsoon and improved availability of transmission capacity for power evacuation resulted in significant increase in revenue and profits for the wind energy companies in India.

According to media reports, companies like Indowind, Gamesa India and Orient Green Energy have reported sharp boost in revenue due to jump in wind power generation. Tamil Nadu, which hosts the largest wind energy capacity in India experienced massive surge in wind power generation during the monsoon season.

Wind energy generation in Tamil Nadu was so high that the state government had to ask the central government to allocate additional transmission resources to supply the surplus electricity to other states.

Record capacity addition in the last financial year also led to the increased power generation in the first quarter of this financial year. Substantial changes in the incentives regime for wind energy projects are expected from beginning of the next financial year, April 2017; as a result, project developers are looking to make full use of current incentives regime and install as much capacity as possible before April 2017.

Another incentive for the developers to generate more electricity is the increase renewable purchase obligation targets and comparatively stricter compliance. Several state regulators have given directions to utilities to increase procurement of renewable energy and meet their respective RPO targets.

09/20/2016 0 comment