Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the JSW Energy Limited 4Q FY25 Post-Result Earnings Conference Call, hosted by B & K Securities. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Rajesh Majumdar from B & K Securities. Thank you and over to you, sir.
Yeah, hi, good evening everyone, and once again, welcome to all of you. We are proud to hold the conference call of JSW Energy Limited Q4 FY25 and full year FY25 earnings today. We have today the management team represented by Mr. Sharad Mahendra, Joint Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Pritesh Vinay, Director of Finance and CFO, and Mr. Prakash Chaudhary, Head of Investor Relations and Strategic Finance. Without much ado, I shall now request Sharad sir to start with his opening comments. Thank you, sir.
Thank you, Rajesh, and good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thanks to you all for joining us today. It is my pleasure to share the highlights of our performance for the quarter and the year gone by. FY25 has been a landmark year for JSW Energy, one marked by strong execution, strategic growth, and sector-leading achievements. I am proud to share that we recorded the highest annual wind capacity addition by any renewable energy company in India this year. During the year, we crossed a significant milestone of 10 GW set under Strategy 2.0, and as I speak today, JSW Energy is a 12.2 GW company, reflecting the momentum we have built across both organic and inorganic expansion. In FY25 alone, we have added 3.6 GW of capacity, strengthening the diversity and scale of our portfolio.
This has resulted in the company reporting the highest ever annual EBITDA of INR 6,115 crore and reported a PAT of highest PAT of INR 1,951 crore. Before we delve into our performance, I would like to share some sector highlights. The dynamics are shifting towards enhancing energy security, addressing the increasing base load and peak load management. FY 2025 has marked an emerging trend in India's power sector dynamics, with several state distribution companies increasingly turning to competitive bidding for thermal power procurement. This trend reflects the growing urgency among states to secure firm power and complement the intermittent renewable generation. Thermal power, particularly from domestic coal-based sources, is regaining strategic importance. Having said this, we are happy to tell that JSW Energy has also secured a 1,600 MW ultra-supercritical plant in West Bengal, which is fully tied up with WBSEDCL.
Coming to capacity additions, India's total installed capacity has reached 475 GW, and the country has added 33 GW in fiscal 2025. Notably, renewable energy led the growth, accounting for a record 29 GW of total additions. This surge was primarily driven by solar power, which contributed 24 GW, followed by 4.2 GW of wind capacity. The power demand for the country grew 4.2% in FY25. In the fourth quarter, we saw a demand growth of 3.2% year-on-year, on a high base of 7.4% growth seen last year in the same quarter. Structurally, we continue to expect strong power demand in the medium term. The peak demand witnessed in quarter four is 238 GW, which was in February 2025, and 250 GW in FY25. The merchant market remained resilient during the year, averaging around INR 4.5 per unit on exchange on the back of soft coal prices.
We have seen merchant tariffs firming up in quarter four as compared to quarter three FY2025. In Q1 FY2026, we are seeing merchant tariffs further increased to INR 4.76 per unit. For the quarter gone by, the API4 coal prices were stable year-on-year at $95 per ton, and as we talk currently, API4 coal prices are around $89 per ton, while within the domestic coal market, sufficient steps are taken to keep a robust coal supply. Coming to company performance, we have added a total of 3.6 GW of operational capacity during the fiscal 2025. This comprises 1.7 GW of organic capacity that affirms our capabilities to execute large-scale projects efficiently. Our organic wind capacity addition stands at 1.3 GW during the year gone by, representing one-third of the nation's total wind capacity addition during the year.
These greenfield wind capacity additions include the completion of SEKI 10 wind project of 454 MW. Our remaining first batch of under-construction wind projects is nearing completion. The quarter gone by also saw commissioning of the second unit of Indbharat JSW Utkal, which was 350 MW and which has now stabilized and is running smoothly. Complementing our organic growth, we have strategically expanded our footprint through the consummation of two important transactions: one, KSK Mahanadi Power, a 3.6 GW unit on 6th March 2025, and O2 Power, a 4.7 GW platform on 9 April 2025. KSK Mahanadi is a 3,600 MW plant and is the largest thermal asset acquired via NCLT proceedings for a total resolution amount of INR 16,084 crore. Currently, 1,800 MW is operational, which is 95% tied up under PPAs and has fuel supply agreements.
In FY25, the plant reported full year EBITDA of INR 2,895 crore on a PLF of 67.4%, while the underlying EBITDA stands at INR 2,382 crore. We have improved PLF from 67.4%, which was witnessed during the year, to 79% post-completion of the transaction in just 25 days of operations, which we did in the month of March. The deemed PLF stands at 99% during this period. We are currently integrating operations with JSW Energy and implementing the comprehensive plan to bring in cost efficiencies. In another large transaction, we acquired O2 Power, which is a 4.7 GW RE platform for a total value of INR 12,468 crore. The current installed capacity of O2 Power is 1.3 GW, and we expect it to scale to 4.7 GW by June 2027 by undertaking capital expenditure of between INR 13,000- INR 14,000 crore.
Turning to our under-construction portfolio, JSW Energy is currently constructing 11.3 GW of generation projects, all of which are fully tied up under long-term power purchase agreements. The under-construction portfolio includes 9.7 GW of renewable energy projects and 1.6 GW of Salboni ultra-supercritical thermal power project, which marks our investment in greenfield thermal after more than a decade. Beyond this, we have a robust project pipeline of approximately 4.9 GW of projects, where letters of intent or letters of awards have been secured, and PPAs are yet to be signed. In this quarter, we have reduced our untied capacity as now our Vijayanagar thermal plant is fully tied up. This development not only ensures stable and predictable cash flows, but it also marks a fundamental shift in the composition of our open capacity.
With Vijayanagar fully tied up, our open capacity now stands at approximately 976 MW out of the total portfolio, and out of this 976 MW, only about 9%-10% of the capacity is dependent on the imported coal, and the rest all is on domestic coal. This transformation signifies a decisive move towards a more resilient domestic coal-based open capacity, reducing exposure to global coal price volatility. Therefore, the break-even price for our open thermal capacity also reduces with the higher use of domestic coal. Coming to energy storage, we recognize the critical role it plays in integrating renewable energy. We have expanded our logged-in energy storage capacity to 28.3 GWh. Notably, the Bawali in Maharashtra, the 12 GWh hydro pump storage project, which is tied up with MSEDCL, is currently under implementation.
In addition, recently, in quarter one of FY2026, we have signed PPA with UPPCL for another 12 GWh of PSP project to be delivered in the next six years. Regarding our SECI 500 MW, 1 GWh battery energy storage system, we have appealed in APTEL and are awaiting the outcome. Coming to the operational performance for the quarter, our net generation for the quarter rose by 24% year-on-year to 7.9 billion units, driven by a 32% increase year-on-year in renewable generation on the back of new capacity additions. Total net generation from the tied-up portfolio was up by 28% year-on-year during this quarter, while short-term generation increased modestly. Our thermal portfolio witnessed a healthy PLF of 77% in the quarter and 71% for the year. A significant portion of JSW Energy's wind capacity was commissioned during the second half of the last fiscal.
As is widely recognized, wind generation in India typically peaks during the first half, particularly from May to September, while the second half tends to experience lower wind speeds and lower generations. Therefore, we are well placed ahead of the coming wind season and anticipate a normalization of generation output. Lastly, coming to the outlook, we are proud to announce that we have surpassed our 10 GW capacity target set under Strategy 2.0, a major milestone in our growth journey. Building on this momentum, I am happy to announce and launch our Strategy 3.0, our new roadmap to achieve 30 GW of generation capacity and 40 GW of energy storage by 2030. This strategic vision of 30 by 30 underscores our commitment to powering India's energy security with scale, speed, and sustainability.
By FY2030, we expect our EBITDA on a run-rate basis to grow between 2.7-3 times over FY2025 pro-forma EBITDA levels. To support this expansion, we plan to invest INR 130,000 crore in capital expenditure between FY2026 to FY2030. With 11.3 MW under-construction projects and a robust pipeline, our logged-in capacity now stands at 30.2 GW, placing us firmly on track to deliver target set under Strategy 3.0. That is all from my side. With this, now I pass on to Pritesh Vinay to talk on the financial performance for the quarter. Thank you.
Thank you, Sharad. A very good evening to all the participants. As Sharad mentioned, for the quarter, net generation was up by 24% YOY, and this translated to a total top-line increase of 21% YoY to just shy of INR 3,500 crore. We reported an EBITDA of INR 1,513 crore, which was up by 17% YoY, and profit after tax for the quarter stood at INR 408 crore, which was up by 16% YoY. For the year as a whole, we saw the EBITDA increase by 5% YoY to INR 6,115 crore, and profit after tax for the year was up by 13% YoY at about INR 1,950 crore. Moving to the balance sheet and leverage, if you look at the net debt for the quarter, at the end of the quarter, post-completion of the KSK acquisition, the total net debt stood at about INR 44,000 crore, out of which about INR 9,500 crore was for projects which are under capital work in progress, and almost INR 34,500 crore was the leverage sitting on the operating companies.
Against the reported EBITDA of INR 6,115 crore, if you look at the pro-forma EBITDA, which basically is all these assets that we have acquired in the middle of the year were available with us for the entire part of the year, the pro-forma EBITDA is about INR 8,860 crore, and hence the net debt to pro-forma EBITDA stands at just about five times. The other key metric that I would like to highlight is that the net debt to equity stands at 1.6 times at the end of the financial year. The weighted average cost of debt went up by almost 18 basis points sequentially and stood at about 9.05%. From a receivables point of view, the receivables continue to be healthy. We reported a total outstanding receivables of INR 2,900 crore.
From a headline point of view, in terms of DSO, it may appear to be at 76 days, a bit higher compared to March last year. What I would like to point out are two things. A, given that the amount of power being sold on merchant is lower, where you get immediate realization, there's a higher proportion of power which is being sold on a credit period. Secondly, the quality of receivables is very, very healthy. In terms of the overdues out of these total amounts, the overdue trend as a percentage of total is significantly lower on a YoY basis. Maybe I'll just take a stop there, and we can open up the floor for Q&A.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Mohit Kumar from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi. Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Congratulations on building a very strong pipeline, and especially completing two inorganic oxygen acquisitions. My first question is, of course, you have built up a very large baseload portfolio now, especially with the acquisition of KSK Mahanadi Power, and now we are building a new power plant in West Bengal. My question is, do we still see acquisition to this baseload portfolio? My stated question is, what is the status of equipment placement and land acquisition for the West Bengal coal-based power plant?
Can you repeat the first question, please?
First question was, how do you think about further acquisition to this baseload portfolio? Do you still think that you would like to do more of the coal-based power plant?
See, Mohit, yes. As we are seeing the increase in the peak demand, which is we witnessed 250 GW, the baseload demand, especially with the significant increase in the intermittent renewable energy, which is solar, the peak load demand, the baseload demands will definitely keep on increasing gradually. One is the demand growth and the pattern in which the new capacities which are coming in. If we see last year, a significant portion has come from renewable and also primarily driven by solar. The baseload demand will gradually is forecasted to be increasing. Wherein the thermal is going to play a key role.
Regarding your second question in terms of the readiness, I'm happy to tell that the entire land on which the plant is to be set up is in our possession. That is not at all a challenge. Everything, the groundwork, in fact, the initial preparatory work has already started. Regarding the equipment placements, we are at an advanced stage of finalizing that, and we do not see that as a constraint at all in completing the project within the PPA timelines.
Twenty-five for KSK Mahanadi. What is the improvement possible over the next two to three years?
See, as we told you in my opening remarks, I told about the EBITDA, which was operational EBITDA, which was in the range of INR 2,350 crore, operational EBITDA which was there full year for KSK. The way we have demonstrated in terms of increased PLF, bringing in the efficiencies, we are quite confident that we are still working. We are integrating. It is only about a month which has happened. We are working on areas that have been identified, but we see a significant scope of improvement in terms of the efficiencies, which will ultimately improve in terms of the revenue as well as the bottom line.
Do you like to quantify that number, sir?
No, Mohit, it may not be appropriate to quantify it at this point, but I think what will be better and more credible is to deliver some kind of a quarterly progress, and that will be a better way of tracking this. Yeah?
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Atul Tiwari from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. And congratulations on hitting your targets of capacity expansion. I have two questions. The first one is again on the Salboni project. Would it be possible to share some color on the PPA? Is it a regulated PPA, or is it a completely bid PPA? If it is the latter, then what are the kind of prices that we are looking at?
See, this is again, the Salboni is a Section 63 PPA, which was under the competitive bidding, which we have been able to secure.
Okay. I am assuming it will be under a two-part tariff, fixed charges and energy charges separately?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Okay.
Atul, the levelized 25-year tariff under two-part tariff will be roughly INR 5.45 per kWh.
Okay. Assuming domestic coal supply, of course.
Yeah, yeah. It is fully tied up, yes.
Okay. Okay. Your plan of doing INR 1.3 trillion of CapEx by FY2030, would you be able to share some color on the thought process around need for equity to meet that, and how much of that you can generate internally, and how much you will need to raise from outside?
Atul, as we have been talking about this consistently in the past, any growth aspiration has to be calibrated within a certain framework of protecting leverage profile and calibrating growth commensurately. It may not be appropriate to quantify that because, needless to say, and I am sure you would be aware of this, there will be a backending of this. As your capacity base goes up, your cash accretion goes up, your ability to spend goes up progressively. It is not 1.3 trillion divided by five equally spent in every year, right?
Therefore, everything has been planned in such a way that the capital availability is matched with the expected capacity increase going forward. If need be, as we had demonstrated about a year ago, if you look at that point of time, if you looked at our committed growth pipeline and our then prevailing leverage profile, we actually did not need to raise any equity capital. These are things out there, and it is very difficult to crystal ball and pinpoint exactly. Anyways, all the growth aspirations will be significantly calibrated to meet the guardrails. Yeah?
Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sumit Kishore from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Good evening. I have a couple of questions. The first one is, if you could give us a sense of what was the total CapEx in the previous financial year, what is it that you expect to spend over FY26 and FY27 separately, if possible, in case you just FY26 would also be fine. That's my first question.
So Sumit, what we actually ended up incurring as a total CapEx for fiscal 2025 was about INR 8,000 crore. And if you remember, we had started the year guided for INR 15,000 crore CapEx for the year. Because of certain delays in some of the ongoing projects and because we were accelerating the inorganic growth pipeline, we calibrated it down. For fiscal 2026, we are expecting to end up spending anything between INR 15,000 crore-INR 18,000 crore in that range to complete the ongoing projects, plus the pipeline of new growth projects that have started.
Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Sumit, you're not audible. May I request you to use your handset, please?
Am I audible now?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Am I audible now?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Yeah. In continuation, when you mentioned that the net debt to pro forma 5x, in terms of your comment regarding the pacing of growth, in all circumstances, you would keep below the 5.5x net debt to pro forma EBITDA is the understanding we have.
That is the endeavor, Sumit.
Okay. There could be temporary overshoots that could happen without you needing to raise equity. Should we read it that way?
It is like this, Sumit. As has been our track record and as seasoned trackers of the sector like yourselves know, project progress, particularly in the infrastructure space, including the power sector, there are too many non-controllable factors. There could be times when there could be some bunching together of projects. More importantly, is this: wherever you are allocating capital, are they inherently at returns more than your cost of capital? From a leverage profile point of view, rating agencies tend to have a slightly through-the-cycle view because they also factor in that the capital work in progress, is that returns accretive or is that returns dilutive? A lot of factors go into that. I may not be able to give a precise answer, but just wanted to give you a sense of how to think about it. Yeah?
Fair enough. The second question is on projects like Salboni, which are—so the renewable pipeline that you have, you could pretty much start executing, or you would already have started executing the projects where PPAs are done. For new project starts like Salboni or ESK expansion, I mean, how are you thinking in terms of the pace of deploying capital?
See, Sumit, if we talk of Salboni here, also the PPA has already been signed. There is a timeline in the PPA. We are going to, which normally is about 48-60 months time period as per the PPA. We will be spreading. Of course, as Pritesh earlier said, that initial one or two years, which is more of groundwork, preparatory work is there, it is more backended. It is being planned. It cannot be just equally distributed in years. It is more it will be backended. That is what Salboni has been planned. Again, the PPA has been signed.
Regarding KSK, as we have informed earlier also that the three units which are already operating and the balance of plant which is fully ready for full 3,600 MW, and one unit which is the fourth unit to commission, 40% of that work also is complete. That is at a very low cost that can be commissioned. As the things progress beyond fourth unit, fifth and sixth unit also will be accordingly planned. As in my opening remarks also as I said, that many states are now coming forward to meet their base demand for thermal requirements are coming in. That gives a very unique opportunity for us to execute the project in a very short time as compared to the standard time which a greenfield thermal power plant takes for KSK.
Basically, the low cost should be interpreted as INR 25,600 crore per MW for bringing up that third unit?
Yeah. See, difficult to quantify exactly. But yes, as I told you that whatever the benchmark numbers may be, you are aware of setting up a greenfield project and assuming that fourth unit is 40% ready, balance of plant for entire 3,600 is ready. It can be estimated that it will be significantly lower than the normal benchmark cost for a greenfield thermal plant.
That is very clear. Just the last point on other income for the quarter, it is up 149% to some INR 3.1 billion. Was that basically treasury income for the acquisitions that you were about to make?
Yes. There were two primary components to that, Sumit. There was a deferred consideration payable that was for one of the prior acquisitions of Mithra, which was subject to certain conditions subsequent. There was a write-back of that provision because that did not have to be paid out. The second is a treasury income gain, as you rightly said, because of the high cash and liquidity that we carried on the books.
How much was the write-back for Mithra, roughly?
I think that was roughly about close to, ballpark, about INR 100 crore.
I have more questions, but I'll get back in the queue. Thank you so much.
Sure. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Barani Eder from Awendus Park. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening. Regarding this Salboni project, could you hear me?
May I request you to use your handset, please, sir? Your audio is not loud enough, sir.
Is it better now?
Yes, sir. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Just wanted to get a sense on the Salboni project as to its readiness with respect to environment clearance, forest clearance. These all are under process. There is already at the similar location this one cement plant is running. I think those all clearances are under process. We do not see that as a challenge.
Okay. Our second question is on the under construction portfolio of around 12 GW. Of this, especially when it comes to renewables, what percentage has land? What percentage has CTO approved or awarded transmission capacity? Because you mentioned it has PPAs, but the other two things like land and transmission, if you can mention.
We have also talked about this in the past, but just to refresh the memory, that typically what happens is the way we approach any project execution is you cannot wait for 100% of the land before doing the groundbreaking because you also have to meet the PPA timeline commitments. Typically, you either already have control of a significant percentage of the land, and you have a line of sight or a visibility of being able to get to the finish line on an as-you-go basis, right? That is one. Second is on the connectivity side for the projects that we need to deliver in the immediate term. We already either have connectivity or we are in very advanced stages of securing connectivity.
The other thing I would like to add is this that when we were acquiring O2, we had also talked about the fact that O2 does not only have 100% of the connectivity that it needs for its own platform, but it also has some excess connectivity. We are planning projects in such a way that from a synergy point of view, some of that excess connectivity that O2 has, we will be utilizing for our own projects because now everything is JSW, right? It is a combination of these two things which gives us a high degree of confidence in being able to commit to certain capacity targets in a certain timeline. Yeah?
Also, to add, which we have to reiterate again, which we have said earlier also, for maybe the next two years, whatever projects are under construction to be executed, we all know that there is a challenge in terms of getting the CTU connectivity, which in general, the industry is facing. We, as a strategy, the PPAs which were signed and within the same states, we have found the areas which are suitable, whether it is wind or solar. We have reduced our dependence for the next two years on CTU connectivity. Within these states, the STU connectivity availability is something which, as Pritesh said, that the majority of the projects, we have the connectivity in place or at a very, very advanced stage. That strategy has really helped us in ensuring that we will be in a position to execute the projects within the PPA timelines.
Okay. Sure. My final question is on if you have any estimate of peak debt that would be in your balance sheet in between 2026 to 2030, what would be that number?
We unfortunately do not think that is the right way to think about it because what is more significant for us is this that whatever projects you are implementing at a certain tariff and at a certain capital cost or a project cost, are the returns accretive or not? If they are all meeting your hurdle rate of, say, a mid-teen equity IRR, then the debt is serviceable, right? Therefore, what is more important and appropriate in our view to track is the leverage ratio. More importantly, to get into the mechanics of this is your debt service coverage ratio, right? So as long as one is comfortable on that side, one can take calls on a going basis.
Sure. Okay. Thank you so much. All the best.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Abhishek from Motilal Oswal. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Just on the renewables capacity side, my understanding is some of the capacities were facing some, I think, land acquisition and right-of-way issues, especially for some of the wind projects. Are those getting resolved now? Is there a timeline on some of those capacities?
Yeah. Abhishek, as we told, we have commissioned and we have demonstrated commissioning of fresh 1.3 gigawatts of wind capacity, which faces the maximum challenge in terms of the ROW issues and implementation issues, which is almost one-third of the country's capacity addition which has taken place. We have been successfully able to overcome those challenges, and the proper mechanisms are in place. Going forward, also the projects which are under construction, we are at a very advanced stage of the ROW issues. The project execution planning is done in such a way that these are within the timelines with solving these issues take place. This is a continuous process. We know the way the things happen in the country. Yes, this is something which is being monitored very, very closely. We do not see that as a bottleneck in not meeting the timelines within the PPA in which we have to execute the project.
Okay. Okay. Fair enough. Second question is, while there is a good five-year-out target of 30 GW, is it possible to give us some sort of a capacity bridge like, say, by—and I am saying, let's ignore KSK and O2 Power for now. Is it possible to give us a number for, say, end FY2026 and FY2027? Just on the organic basis, there could be capacity.
Yeah. See, as we say that from we are talking, it is 12.2 GW operating portfolio. And the projects which are in pipeline and to be executed within the PPA timelines, you can assume that beyond 12.2 GW, maybe 3 GW-3.5 GW of capacity addition, around 3.5 GW of capacity addition in a year ensures us to meet and deliver the projects on time. You can just maybe estimate that what is further going to happen going forward.
Okay. Fair enough. Just one last question from me. I mean, your hands are really full right now in terms of lots of projects. Does it mean going forward, you are going to be more selective with respect to semi-tenders? Is there a specific category like we'll do more of FDRE or hybrid or any thoughts on those?
See, as you rightly said, that maybe meeting the 30 GW by 2030, the pipeline which we have takes care of that. This also gives us to be selective in going forward in participating in the upcoming bids. As we have been maintaining, any opportunity which comes, which is return accretive to our shareholders, to us, is what we are going to look. We will ensure that our benchmark returns are protected. Keeping those things in mind, only we will be going forward, we'll be participating in the bids.
Perfect. Thank you so much, sir.
Abhishek, I may want to add, I'm too tempted, sorry.
Sure. Sure.
I want to believe we have always been selective. It is not that something has changed now and hence selective, right?
Okay. Okay. Fair enough.
Let's not forget that India has seen in the last four years tendering in excess of 130 GW-140 GW, right? But we have gone ahead and secured a pipeline of barely 7 GW-8 GW, right? So we have been very selective, and we will continue to be so.
Okay. Fair enough. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants in the conference, please limit your questions to one or two per participant. Should you have a follow-up question, we would request you to rejoin the queue. Our next question comes from the line of Aniket Mittal from SBI Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yes, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question actually is pertaining to wind. Aside of the execution-related issues, generally, wind PLFs over the past few years have also been a bit depressed. So just wanted to understand your thoughts on that in terms of building sort of wind PLFs in your assumptions. Are you sort of recalibrating that? What sort of PLFs are you assuming going forward?
Yeah. Abhishek, a very important question, which is a part of DNA within our organization. See, whenever we are planning to participate in a bid and the modeling is being done for the right tariff, we have always been very conservative in terms of the assumptions. Like the industry in general, we have seen in case of wind has operated at P75, but for us, the benchmark is P90, which gives us enough room for such kind of deviation when we have seen the last year also that the wind speeds comparatively were lesser than what was anticipated. We take care a lot of assumptions in such a way that even if these things go wrong, our benchmark returns are protected, and we do not go wrong when we are executing and when the project is operational.
Okay. What would that P90 number be, sir? What is the P90 PLF number that you are—
P90 number depends on a lot of other factors. Assumption is the probability of going wrong.
Okay. Just to— Aniket, if I can come in here— if I may come in here. See, there are two, three factors that go in, right? One is the location, a particular location. Second is the type of equipment that you plan to utilize there, right? What is the rating of that equipment, and what are the efficiency factors, etc., right? It's not a one-size-fits-all that one P90 will work at all locations regardless of which equipment you use. Hence, ultimately, what works for us effectively is the LCOE number, right, instead of P90. That is, what is the levelized cost of energy that one is likely to achieve at a particular location for a given configuration of machine? Yeah?
Okay. Fair. Fair. The other question was just to understand on the interest cost. In the press release, I think you've mentioned that the weighted average cost of that has gone up to about 9.1%. Just to understand that, what's the average cost of borrowing that you look at now in terms of financing these projects, both at a project level and local level?
It's a mix of things, Aniket. What has happened is this: for O2—sorry, for KSK acquisition, we drew down on a long-term debt, which was priced at a certain level, assuming a BBB credit rating profile. We have achieved a higher than that, and hence, when we report in June quarter, you will see this number coming down because that number has already inched down because the credit rating is better than the base case at which it was priced. That is one. Second is what is going to happen is this that there's a substantial amount of our borrowings, particularly all the project financing debt, which is typically linked to a bank reference rate, a bank MCLR, plus a spread. Therefore, depending on how the interest rate environment moves out and all signs seem to be a more benign rate curve trajectory going forward, there will be an impact of that. The third factor that comes in also is the timing when your resets happen because typically, while these are long-term facilities, no bank wants an ALM mismatch. Effectively, these are floaters, right, which have annual resets. Periodically, based on when you drew down the first facility, there's going to be an annual reset that will happen quarter to quarter. It's a combination of all these things which ultimately reflects on this chart here.
Second is this, depending on the type of capital pool you are targeting, these costs can be numbered. For example, if you want to do a three-year issuances and assume the rollover refinancing risk, the number can be much finer. What we choose to do is to ensure that for all the projects which are backed by PPA, you are doing a long-tenor, non-recourse project financing, right? It is a combination of all that from institution to institution, bank to bank. That number will vary, but largely, 8.5%-9%. That is a range typically at which you can get a long-tenor project financing facility today.
Okay. Perfect. That is helpful. I will join back in with you for the questions.
Thank you. The next question comes from Darsh Solanki from Axis Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for this opportunity. My first question is more of clarity between each of. Was the acquisition of KSK Mahanadi and O2 Power completed? Going forward, these two companies will get consolidated in our company, right, for a modeling purpose?
Yes. Yes, Darsh. Yes.
Hopefully.
Yes. Sure.
No, no, no. Not hopefully. Surely. Surely.
Yes. Okay. Thanks.
KSK will be done. O2, you will see when we report the June quarter results because that transaction got consummated only in the month of April.
Understood. Sir, actually, my second question is regarding O2 only. O2 in the press release, I understand that we expect that by June 2025, around 2.2 GW of capacity is expected to be operational. Can we have a split of just 259 megawatts in solar, wind, and hybrid?
See, presently, when we acquired this asset, operating capacity of 1,343 MW, out of which 271 MW of wind and balance is all solar, this is what we have acquired. During the quarter, what we are seeing, maybe another addition of about 500 MW which will happen, which takes it to close to 1.9 MW, and balance because of the connectivity and various issues we will see in the coming quarter.
Understood. That would be mainly solar only, right? The commissioning of the—
Yes. Yes. Yeah. Fresh capacity addition to reach 1.9 is 100% solar.
Understood. Balance, just if you can share, still 2.2 GW would also be solar, or we will plan wind as well?
Yes. Yes. Up to 2.2, everything is solar.
Understood. Understood. Got it. Okay. That is the answer from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Nikhil Abhyankar from UTI Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Sure. Thank you, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, recently, we were also thinking of having solar manufacturing plants. So it is not included in the Strategy 3.0. Can we expect that it is dropped for now?
No. You see, we have kept this in abeyance. The reason is if we see that we all are aware, the way the capacities, module capacities have got added in India, which is close to 100 GW. So we did the evaluation, and we found basically the objective for us to go for manufacturing was when we had announced with supply chain de-risking. That scenario has changed, and we do not see right now of the module availability at the right price as a challenge. We will be watchful on that. We'll not say that we have dropped, but we have kept in abeyance. As and when we feel the need, we will be going ahead. Immediately for the current fiscal, we are not going ahead with this.
Okay. Sir, the second BESS capacity, can you just tell us how much was the CapEx done? If a significant portion of it is done, are we also looking at using it for, say, merchant market, tapping the night and day arbitrage available?
Yeah. It is to see that this happened. The timing was such that we have not done any significant CapEx. It remains in single digits only. Right now, we have not done anything significant in this. Maybe single digit, when I'm saying it, means maybe around INR 10 crore or below.
I mean, the project was supposed to get commissioned in March 2025, and it was canceled. I mean, it has stayed in abeyance just four months prior to it. Still, the CapEx is only INR 10 crore?
Yeah. Yeah. We had planned in such a way to commission that in four months' time. That was not a challenge at all because the preparatory groundwork, the way this amount which has been already invested was done judiciously that as and when the clarity comes because till that time also, the regulatory approvals were pending, the PPAs were signed. And the batteries, what we had ordered, we have enough other projects also which we have in which is captive requirements of energy storage as well as other bids which we have won. The same batteries are being used for other locations. We do not see any challenge except ordering. Yes, you are right. We had ordered, but this is being used in alternate projects.
Okay. Can you just give us a timeline as to what will be the commissioning trend for the rest of the 1.9 gigawatt hours of projects?
See, again, as I said, the implementation which we have made for energy storage, we have been talking about energy storage as we said in our Strategy 3.0. We are maintaining 40 GWh , which is part of energy storage also. To balance 1.9 GW, the PPAs which are signed, we will be executing, and this is a short lead time. We will be doing total we have another five projects which are there other than this one gigawatt. We will be executing as per the PPA timelines, which normally is 18 months.
Sure. Sure. Thank you and all the best. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Dhruv Muchal from HDFC AMC. Please go ahead.
Yeah, sir. Thank you so much. Sir, is it possible to share the run rate EBITDA for the renewable capacity as of March end for the renewable, I mean, ex-hydro? And also, if possible, the gross block that you invested. Run rate EBITDA or run rate EBITDA is also fine. However, what is comfortable?
So Dhruv, we do not do that run rate EBITDA, but you will be able to, you have the, and IR team will be able to help you. You have the details of all the RE projects, and you have the tariff because all of them have been won through an auction mechanism. It is a public number. You will be able to generate that. We do not give run rate EBITDA. That we will not be able to do. From a gross block point of view, you'll have to wait for some time because based on the size and significant developments that have happened, we should be in a position in some time to upload once the annual reports are completed. We will be able to upload the annual reports of all the entities. This year, we are also going to be publishing JSW NEO's consolidated numbers from the balance sheet cash flow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is based on popular demand.
One more popular demand probably is the run rate EBITDA because that is a very good metric or revenue is a good metric for us to monitor because individual projects, you have many hybrid projects too. Monitoring or gauging it from individual projects becomes extremely difficult. Run rate EBITDA probably is an industry standard. As a suggestion, if you can, please adopt it also. Great. Thank you so much.
We will surely take that. We'll surely take that under advisement, Dhruv.
Sure. Thanks.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Amit Binde with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. I just wanted to understand the impact that you had from the wind speeds on your acquired portfolio because as I recollect on Mahindra, you were guiding around INR 600 crore of EBITDA, and that's pretty lower now, including the new acquisitions as well. Any measures that you are taking on that EBITDA now?
Yeah. See, one measure which we are taking, yes, it is slightly lower wind speed impact is there on those assets. When we say we have to assume that there are assets which range from maybe 650 kW or 850 kW to maybe 2.7 GW or 2 GW, this is the range of the turbines which are there, which all was evaluated and considered while valuing the asset. Yes, wind speeds have had an impact there. Yes, what we are now, our operation and maintenance team is working on, apart from the availability which we have been successful in increasing, the availability, which used to be 96%-97% to 99% availability, which we have ended with, is the efficiencies of the machines which are running. That also is important. Even when the wind is there, whether the machines are there, that evaluation is in progress. There were some contracts which were medium-term operations and maintenance contracts which were signed with the suppliers.
Some of them we have canceled, and we have taken into our during the previous year, at various stages, we have taken into our own control, self-O&M. That also will definitely result in significant savings in the operation and maintenance cost. Also, the O&M contracts which are prevailing, which was for medium terms, we have been successful in negotiating those contracts in our favor. All those things we will definitely see in the current fiscal.
Right. If I may add to that, Amit, I would like to add to what Sharad. I just put it slightly differently. Whatever Sharad has said is 100% correct. Look, in any initiative, there are controllable factors, and there are non-controllable factors. What one can definitely try and endeavor to do is that whatever are the controllable factors that Sharad talked about in terms of ensuring that your machine availability is up, ensuring that the focus on ONM cost reduction and getting more efficiencies out. We are definitely at it, right? Now, wind speed is something which, unfortunately, is not a controllable factor. However, this is not a company-specific thing, right? There are two things. One is that, obviously, when one does run these kind of processes, one looks at a longer-term horizon, right? We will be watching out closely. As Sharad said, whatever can be done to salvage that aspect. Ultimately, the bottom line is this: there has to be a certain amount of risk appetite in running any enterprise, and these are inherent risks that one has to live with. Yeah.
Great. Yeah. The second one that I wanted to understand is regarding your wind manufacturing plan that you had. What is the progress on that, and what is the sourcing strategy at the moment?
Yeah. See, in terms of wind manufacturing, I'd just like to tell, as we have said earlier, we had signed the technology license agreement with SANY, and they have their facilities in India only, in Pune, from where now all the suppliers are going to come, which is going to start sometime in quarter two. Apart from that, to further de-risk and optimize in terms of both cost and deliveries, we are setting up our two blade manufacturing units, our own for our captive requirements, which will be in the current year only. Both the units of blade manufacturing also will get commissioned. These are the two steps on the manufacturing front in the wind side we have taken.
All right. Got that. That was helpful, sir. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Mahesh Patil from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Sir, my first question is on the O2 Power. At the time of acquisition, you had mentioned that ar ound 2.3-2.4 gigawatt should be operational by June 2025. Do we have any revised timeline for that capacity?
Yeah. Mahesh, as I said, when we acquired the portfolio, the operating capacity has been 1.34 GW, and the balance work is in progress. By quarter end, we are expecting close to 1.9 GW operational capacity and about 300 MW of solar, which is spilling over in quarter two. That is the only minor change which is there. We had said 2.2 GW operational by end Q1, which may spill over about a small 300 MW maybe in quarter two.
Previously responded that you are setting up the blade manufacturing unit.
So Mahesh Patil, may I request you to repeat your question, sir? You're not audible.
Yeah. My question is regarding the sourcing part. As we have mentioned that you are setting up the blade manufacturing unit, right? Given the revised guidelines on the increased content of domestic manufacturing for wind as well, any challenges in terms of sourcing for both solar and wind equipment for the upcoming projects?
No. As we say, solar, as I said earlier also, enough capacity in India is there and at a very, very competitive price. We do not see any challenge, and we have already been procuring now modules locally for our ongoing projects. We do not see as a challenge because close to 100 GW of solar capacity, all the module manufacturing capacity is already in place in India. Regarding the blade manufacturing, as I said, that of course, there is a draft regulation made in India where in some portion you can import. After that, you have to be on domestic. These actions of ours in the current year, when we will be commissioning our two blade manufacturing facilities, will take care of our total capacity addition plan. We do not see these things as a challenge for us.
Okay, sir. Sir, my last question is on the pipeline. We have a robust pipeline, right? Going forward, what would be the bidding strategy? Are you looking for something like more of solar or hybrid or FDRE? Any of you want that?
See, as I said earlier also to one of the questions, we have enough of pipeline in place and the amount of opportunity size is so big now that we will be selective. Everything is mentioned, what we have in pipeline, what we have to install. If you go to the presentation slide number 24, you will get all the details. As a strategy, we will be definitely selective, ensuring that if the opportunity which is coming in is meeting within our Strategy 3.0 to reach 30 GW, we have the entire pipeline in place. We'll be selective. Going forward, wherever we are seeing that it is return equitable, meeting our benchmark returns, we will be participating. Yes, presently, we'll be focusing on our execution of the pipelines.
Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Anuj Upadhyay from Investec . Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. I just want to get a sense on how our cash flows are placed to fund this INR 130,000 crore of CapEx over the next five years because what my sense says is the extended KSK capacity and the Salboni will only come by FY 2029 or 2030 because it has an execution time period of four to five years. This would require a combined CapEx up to the tune of close to around INR 30,000 crore- INR 35,000 crore. The balance, INR 90,000 crore, which is largely targeted towards the renewable capacity, generally has an executable time period of, say, two, two and a half years kind of a time period. I just want to get a sense on what sort of CapEx because by the next year, CapEx could be to the tune of INR 15,000 crore-INR 18,000 crore. Over FY 2027 or 2028, can we see a bulk of 25+ kind of a run rate of CapEx happening at the company level?
See, maybe I'll just say a few things on the numbers, what you just said, and then maybe on the cash flow, Pritesh will let you know. See, one, as I said, these are all projects which are maybe four to five years period and more back-ended investment which is there. The numbers for these two, KSK and Salboni West Bengal project, what you said, that is a significantly higher number. As I said earlier, the 1,800 MW capacity we have to execute maybe by FY 2030, this will be at a much, much lower cost than what the normal greenfield project is. The cost will be significantly lower for this entire 1.6 gigawatt of West Bengal and 1.8 gigawatt of KSK, which is total 3.4 gigawatt, will not be in the tune of the numbers what you have just said. It will be significantly lower one. In terms of cash flow with the new capacities coming in over a period, how it is going to help, maybe Pritesh will just tell you.
Anuj, I'll just kind of try and repeat in a slightly different way what I said sometime back. All growth aspirations, funding of those growth aspirations has to be calibrated with respect to your spending ability. At the same time, on the other hand, managing that your leverage profile is in check. We will be operating between these two guardrails, right? From time to time, there was another question earlier. There could be some bunching temporarily, but largely, that is the endeavor. I would not like to get into specifics because that would not be appropriate. What we can definitely kind of talk about is that for the current year, we are talking about a INR 15,000 crore-INR 18,000 crore capital spending plan. It will be calibrated subsequent to that. Yeah.
Okay. Fine. Next, on the Vijayanagar, now the plant has been completely tied up. Can we provide some kind of a sustainable ROE or what PLF the plant could run? That would be helpful. I believe the plant has a regulated equity contribution of close to around INR 1,300 crore-INR 1,400 crore. Can we provide some sense on what kind of ROE it would be making on that captive arrangement?
Anuj, on Vijayanagar, obviously, the tie-up is on CERC norms. What I would also want to highlight, and this is important, is this: that this is a five-year tie-up. Yeah? So yeah, the tie-up is for five years because JSW Steel also has decarbonization aspirations for which they also eventually want to switch over into more and more RE, right? Therefore, with that in mind, this has been done for five years. Rest of the things are arithmetic. You guys are very good in doing that. I would not like to comment on that. This is how you should look at it. Yeah?
Fair enough. That's helpful. Thank you. Wish you good luck.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Rajesh Majumdar from B & K Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. My question was actually on the line with the last participant. On the thermal PPAs, we are seeing a much shorter duration of five years now. Is that the trend going forward? Since you have locked in a lot of new coal-based capacity, is that going to be a challenge in the future in terms of the coal-based capacity?
Rajesh, I would beg to differ. I mean, PPAs are not for short duration. If you look at what UP did, what Maharashtra did, what West Bengal did, what Karnataka has called for, these are all 25-year bids. What I was explaining was this Vijayanagar 860 MW that has been tied up, that has been tied up for five years with JSW Steel. Yeah?
The long-term PPAs are still there.
Five years. Yeah?
Okay. Yeah. The long-term PPAs still exist for the larger?
Yeah. 25 years and pump storage is all for 40 years, which are the PPAs which are coming.
Okay. That's useful. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Yeah. Thank you, everyone, for being with us today. If anyone else has any query or any other questions, I request you to please approach our IR team. You will get a suitable reply if there are any other questions which remain unanswered today. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you very much. And good night, everyone.
Good night.
Thank you. On behalf of JSW Energy, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.