Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to ACME Solar Holdings Limited, Q4 FY 2025 earnings conference call hosted by Emkay Global Financial Services Limited. 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 has been recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sabri Hazarika. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Yeah. Good morning, everyone. On behalf of Emkay Global Financial Services, I welcome you all to the Q4 and FY 2025 post-earnings conference call of ACME Solar Holdings Limited. We have with us the senior management from the company. Today's session would be a discussion on the results, followed by Q&A question and answer round. Without any further delay, now I'd like to hand over to Mr. Nikhil Dhingra, CEO, for the opening comments. Over to you, sir.
Thanks a lot. Good morning. Warm welcome to all of you. I'm Nikhil Dhingra, the CEO and director on board of the company. I have with me Mr. Manoj Kumar Upadhyay, the founder and chairman. Mr. Rajat Kumar Singh, our group CFO. He's a new addition to the team, so a big warm welcome to him. Ankit Verma, head of corporate finance, and Arun Chopra, who is head of finance and accounts and our group controller. It is my pleasure to share with you all the business and financial performance and other key updates for the year going by. I'll start with first the highlights of our business and financial performance, and then followed by a brief of our view on the industry.
Financial year 2025 has been a landmark year, a great year for ACME Solar, marked by disciplined execution, robust capacity growth, and continued emphasis on improving our offtake profile to central, and also, most importantly, the financial prudence. We have achieved substantial capacity growth this year by adding 1,200 MW of solar capacity on top of the 1,350-odd we had at the start of the year. That is how we have reached a sizable number closer to 2,700 MW. We have won another 1,900 MW of bids across FDRE, hybrid, and solar technologies, taking our total project portfolio to approximately 7 GW. In terms of the near-commissioning projects for 450 MW, which are completely ready to produce revenue, just to give you a breakup of that, the 300 MW Sikar plant in Rajasthan has successfully commissioned 165 MW.
We got the commissioning of 112.5 MW yesterday evening, with the remaining capacity of around 135 MW under commissioning, expected to be commissioned in the next 30 days. Given the favorable average merchant price of around INR 3.1 per unit, which we have realized so far, we intend to initially operate the plant in the merchant market. Subsequently, as the opportunity arises, we will try and move the plant to a PPA. The project will also benefit from an GEIST waiver, enhancing its attractiveness for the offtaker. On a run rate basis, at the indicated tariff, which is currently going on, it is expected to generate a top line of around INR 230-INR 240 crores when fully operational. In terms of the mid-project, our 50 MW project is under commissioning. We have received almost final approval for around 26.5 MW, which we are trying to commission in this week.
The rest of the capacity, we are trying to commission again in the next 10 odd days. The balance, 100 MW, is at advanced stage of construction. The equipment has already reached the site, and we are expecting to get that running in phases, with the first phase running in the early part of the second quarter and the complete commissioning in the later part of the second quarter. Our operational capacity, as of today, stands at around 2,700 MW. With the commissioning of the balance, near-commissioning projects, which I just spoke about, we will be touching around 3 GW soon. Now, coming to our under-construction project, and first of all, their PPA LOA status. Our under-construction logged-in capacity stands at 4.3 GW today, out of which around 2.2 GW is already PPA signed. The balance 2.1 GW are LOA awarded, for which PPA signing is expected soon.
In terms of the PPA signing, what we are seeing is there is bunching up of these PPA signings, which we are expecting. It is, of course, delayed than what we thought initially. We are getting very good traction, and we are at a final stage of around three PPAs, which will aggregate to around 750 MW. We are hopeful that they will be signed very soon. Tariff has been adopted, and order has been reserved for over 90% of the projects I spoke about of 4.3 GW. Around 80%, or 3,380 MW of under-construction projects, are dedicated to FDRE and hybrid energy solutions. This strategic shift positions us to deliver flexible power, and of course, in terms of the direction of the market, which is oriented towards the FDRE and hybrid solutions.
In terms of the connectivity and LAN, which are the fundamental building blocks for our under-construction project, we have connectivity in place for the entire portfolio, which we have mentioned before as well. Other than that, we have surplus connectivity in place, both applied and secured, of 2,500 MW for our future bids. With respect to land for our PPA signed under-construction projects, over 50% land for the solar component and over 60% land for the wind component has been acquired. Additionally, we have applied for over 10,000 acres of government land, which is currently at various stages of approval process and will support our under-construction project and future pipeline projects. On the financing front for the under-construction project, we have secured sanctions of around INR 16,500 crore, covering 1,700 MW of projects in our under-construction capacity.
We are trying to optimize the interest during construction, and therefore, we don't take sanctions for the projects which are not beginning, which don't need the debt part of the financing in the next two-three months. We have the in-principal approvals, but we try and take the sanctions just around when we need disbursement. Additionally, we have successfully received refinancing sanctions of around INR 7,700 crore of debt for our operational projects at an average interest rate of 8.8% per annum. This refinancing would yield a significant benefit, reducing the average interest rate on these projects by about 75 basis points. We expect this refinancing benefit to compound further, given the interest rate trajectory and the credit rating profile of our assets, which is improving.
Regarding an update on our creditworthiness, in February 2025, Crisil upgraded our credit rating to A+ and assigned a positive outlook, reflecting their confidence on our future performance. Also, 750 MW of our operational projects last month received a double A-rating. As you would know, the rating of a project is determined by the financial strength of the project as well as the counterparty. These projects, just as commissioned, this is part of the 1,200 MW projects we commissioned in January. As you can see, as recent as two, three months after operation, this achieved a double A-rating, which shows the strong operational performance of this asset as well as the triple A counterparty it is working in. That is a good precedence for us as we move to refinance all the other part of the 1,200 MW projects which we commissioned in January.
Additionally, the board declared an interim dividend of 10% for the period ended 31st December 2024. Coming to the equipment orders and the CapEx lock-in for our under-construction project, let me highlight the strategic progress we have made in securing commitment for the critical equipment orders, which is key to ensuring timely execution and cost efficiency. We have locked in prices for the long lead items, and appropriate hedges are in place for the imported equipment. For battery, we have locked in prices with suppliers, complemented by appropriate currency hedges to mitigate market volatility. This positions us favorably as we have locked in prices at the optimum end of the CapEx prices. Additionally, commitments are in place for various associated equipment like PCS, transmission lines, power transformers, and wind turbines.
Each of these components represents a very important part of our growth pipeline, reinforcing our ability to deliver scalable and high-quality renewable energy solutions. We are also optimizing grid infrastructure by adopting new solutions like gas-insulated substations. This also helps us to meet our goals of reliability, safety, and sustainability, as they require less maintenance, save space, and deliver superior performance. Now, coming on to operational performance of our portfolio, which is operational, we are further pleased to report a significant improvement in our capacity utilization factor, which is the cornerstone of our revenues. The capacity utilization factor for us reached 25.6% for this year. This is definitely slated to improve as we are currently improving the proportion of our portfolio, which is running in Rajasthan, which is the highest GHI zone in the country.
The performance translated a substantial generation of around 401 crore units, a 55% increase compared to the previous year. This growth was primarily driven by our successful 1,200 MW capacity expansion, which, as I just mentioned, has been increased to around 1,365 by commissioning of the 165 MW, which we just announced. Our plants continue to demonstrate high reliability, maintaining an average plant availability factor of 99.5%, which is industry-leading. Furthermore, our strategic focus on Rajasthan, one of the highest solar radiation zones in India, has resulted in a CUF of 29.4% for the plants in the area. This is significant because it is a very substantial part of our portfolio, which is delivering this kind of CUF. That will help us improve next year on the CUF because this year we had a partial run for our 1,200 MW plants.
Next year, we will, of course, have the full run for our 1,200 MW plants. This new plant of 300 MW, which is just getting commissioned, also is part of the Rajasthan portfolio. On our financial performance, I would like to highlight key figures, both for the quarter as well as for the full year financial year 2025. One key point to note here is that we monetized 369 MW of our operational assets in quarter four FY 2024. Thus, for a like-to-like periodic comparison, we should compare the performance on the adjusted basis. On a like-to-like basis for the quarter, we reported total revenue of around INR 539 crore, which is up 73%, and EBITDA of around INR 488 crore, up 119% on a year-on-year basis. The PAT and cash PAT for the quarter stood at INR 122 crore and INR 238 crore, respectively.
Now, on a full year basis, we generated total revenue of INR 1,575 crore, which is up 32% over the last year. EBITDA stands at around INR 1,400 crore, which is up 43%, with a margin of over 89%. PAT and cash PAT stood at INR 251 crore and INR 559 crore, up 290% and 155%, respectively. Throughout the year, we definitely prioritized strengthening our balance sheet and optimizing capital management. As of FY 2025, our net operational debt to EBITDA stands at 4.4, which is well within our guided range of 5.5. Our net debt to net worth ratio has improved to 1.7x, reflecting continued progress in our financial discipline. During the year, we expanded our asset base by around INR 4,100 crore, bringing the total gross block to around INR 15,500 crore. We continue to maintain a robust liquidity position with cash and bank balances of around INR 2,900 crore as of FY 2025.
Now, just briefly touching upon the industry scenario. On the industry side, of course, the power demand growth in FY2025 was lower than expectations at around 4%. It was muted because of the higher base and also due to the higher-than-expected rainfall and favorable monsoon. The peak demand was 250 GW in May last year and is expected to peak over 270 GW this summer. Of course, we did very well on the renewable capacity addition as a nation. We added around 30 GW during the year, bringing the total RE capacity to over 220 GW. Solar, of course, has been the leader, with adding 23.8 GW of new installations, taking the total solar capacity to around more than 100 GW. The wind also reached a milestone of around 50 GW.
New tenders were rolled out for over 50 GW in FY 2025, largely comprising of hybrid and FDRE tenders, incorporating battery storage. In terms of the key policy shifts, the government really upped the policymaking in terms of getting these PPAs signed early. Now we have policies in place which require the tariff adoption to happen within a month of the bid. We also have the binding timeline for signing a PPA for the new tenders. We are also seeing that the battery has become an integral part of all our projects, which will come up in future. Of course, as we move forward, we are seeing the impact of ACLM, which is basically not allowing us to import cells from China post-June 26, to be correct. That is already reflected in tariffs.
There is not a large shift in tariffs, but of course, that will help improve the attractiveness of the current tariffs for us. We are observing a clear shift in the energy dynamics towards reliably meeting the rising baseload and peak power demand using renewable energy, a transition which will be facilitated by adoption of low-cost energy storage solutions to integrate the intermittent renewable power. Now, I would now request to open the floor for questions, which our team will be happy to answer. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. 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 their 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. The first question is from the line of Mohit from ICICI Securities. Please proceed.
Good morning, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is, can you please refer to the timeline for some of the large under-construction projects, especially 380 MW FDRE and 680 MW?
Right. Sure, sure, Mohit. Thanks for participating. In terms of the timelines for this project, the PPA got signed for 190 MW of the 380 MW in June of last year. The scheduled COD of that project is June of next year, two years' time you get to execute. Similarly, for the 580 MW, for the 320 MW, and that is around 580 MW of SJVN, the timeline is May 2026 as per the PPA. We, of course, have financing for both these assets.
We do have the land for these assets, which were PPA-signed. We are in the middle of the equipment we mentioned about ordering of GIS, ordering of transmission line, ordering of transformers, ordering of batteries. All these are geared up for these projects. That is where we are. We have started construction. Of course, we have started the transmission line for these projects. We are geared up to execute these projects in the scheduled timeline of May and June next year.
Second question, any color on the financial closure of all these three projects, 320, 380, and 680 MW?
Yeah. All of them are financially closed. All of them are financially closed. They closed, I think, the INR 16,500 crores we mentioned in this quarter and last quarter. They were part of that. These were financially closed even before the last quarter ended.
They are all financially closed.
All three, right, sir?
All three. The 380 MW, of course, includes the PPA, which has not been signed also, because the PPA is signed only for 190, but the 380 is also financially closed. Mohit, on page 26 of the earnings presentation, we have highlighted which all financial closures have happened for all the projects.
If you can—Is there any expectation on the PPAs for the balanced capacity for the various signed PPA parties?
Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. We are in a very advanced stage with multiple states on these. There are two PPAs which are partially signed. One is this 190 MW, and another is the 200 MW of solar plus battery, which is at a tariff of around INR 3.42.
These two, we are at a very advanced stage of discussions with the states which have already taken partial and also the new states. We are getting good traction on them. We are hopeful that these will be signed in, let's say, a month or so. Of course, the primary discussions are being held by the REIAs, and they brief us that it's—and the tariff has been adopted. The good thing is both these tariffs have been adopted by CERC a long time back now. Three, four months have passed. It is a very—and also by the state regulators wherever PPA has been signed. That gives good comfort to the customers who have bought this power.
Good to hear, sir. Thank you very much, sir.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Before I take the next question, I would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Apoorva Bahadur from IIFL Capital. Please proceed.
Hi, Nikhil. Thank you for the opportunity. You highlighted that you have locked in the CapEx for the batteries. Can you share that number with us? What's the estimated or expected cost over there, and who would be the suppliers, I mean, based on the tiering?
Sure, sure, Apoorva. Thanks a lot for joining the call. In terms of the CapEx, I will not be able to divulge specific numbers, but what I can tell you is that it is definitely much below the budget we had in terms of the initial bid budget.
When we see how do we plan for the projects, we take the current prevailing prices at the time of the bid. They are much below that. Of course, in terms of the tiering, they are all tier one suppliers, and they are all from China, of course, because, as you know, China is the primary supplier for the lithium-ion phosphate batteries which we are procuring. The good thing is that there are enough and many suppliers which allow you to procure at scale and also procure within the timelines which you need. The good thing about batteries is that—and the good thing about our portfolio is that we have a large proportion of that in the central connected projects, right? Out of our operational capacity, more than 60%-70% is now connected to the central grid.
That allows us to maybe, if we are able to execute faster, play the merchant market on the battery side. That is another reason other than hedging the CapEx. We have also tried and preponed the battery side, which, of course, can leverage the already operational substations we have with all the associated infrastructure. In terms of the CapEx, all I can tell you is that it is a very competitive price, and that is why you are seeing the impact of that also in the tariffs. That is a good thing. Of course, there are counterbalances. The CapEx falls and various other things keep moving. ALCM has also come in. There is a counterbalancing all the time in terms of tariffs. All I can tell you is they are much below the bid budget we had.
We will be able to share as we capitalize the asset because, as you would appreciate, these are all competitive bids. It will not be wise for us to give the specific numbers.
Sure, sure. Correct me if my understanding is wrong, but I believe that the projects that we have already bid for are not under the ambit of ALCM, right?
None of the projects which we have bid for are under the ambit of ALCM. How it impacts us is that the new bids come under the ambit of ALCM. For the customers, new bids and old bids are the same, right? They care about the prices. It is a commodity, right? My power is not different from the earlier power, right?
In terms of the benchmarking, it gives us some benefit in terms of having the old PPAs because the ALCM will have an up move on the tariff.
Okay. Will the importing battery cells or packs be for the entire BESS system?
Entire BESS system, Apoorva. Entire BESS system.
Okay, okay. When would be the soonest that we can see first units being commissioned over here? Any timeline on that?
Yeah. We are targeting Q3. We are targeting Q3. Late Q2 to Q3 is our target, stress target. We are trying to do a pilot also, which we are trying to finish in Q2. The large-scale battery, we are trying to do in Q3.
Okay. Last question on this battery side is that these suppliers, what sort of warranties do they give? In terms of the—yeah, yeah, please.
They are giving 20 years of warranty and with the degradation cycle leaving up to 70%.
The way to think about this is that the battery will last at least 70% of its rated capacity by the end of the 20th year.
Correct. It is similar like module. You are right.
Okay. This is 20 years based on one cycle per day?
One cycle per day. Correct.
Okay. Understood. Thank you so much. I'll get back in the queue for more questions.
Right. Thank you.
Thank you. Before I take the next question, I would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Nihal Shar from Prudent Corporate Advisory. Please proceed.
Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations on the great set of numbers. My question was regarding capacity utilization factors.
This year, our CUF is pretty high. Was it because of the new 1,200 MW capacity that came in? What was the capacity utilization factor for that facility in the last quarter and for the old facilities in the last quarter, if we can bifurcate?
Sure, sure, sure. In terms of the capacity utilization factor for this new project which we have commissioned, we did more than 30% CUF, 32% to be exact, in the last quarter. This is a very high CUF. Of course, you are right that operationalization of this 1,200 MW project in Rajasthan, and that too in the highest sunlight zone of Rajasthan, which is Fatehgarh, has helped us get the CUF up to 25.4%.
As we mentioned, Rajasthan as a state, if you look at our portfolio there, which is very large, that has done around 29.4% CUF on an annualized basis. As we move forward and we capture the full year impact of this project next year, the CUF is bound to go up.
Okay. How much do we expect the CUF for the FDRE projects to be, and by when can we estimate our—sorry—FDRE projects to commission in FY 2026 and FY 2027, if we can give a number?
Right. In terms of the CUF, there is, of course, it depends on the configuration, and of course, it varies from bid to bid. On a, let's say, there is a minimum CUF you need to give in each bid of around 40%, which is on an FDRE. In hybrid, it is typically around 30%.
In some FDREs, it is 50% minimum CUF. Given our configuration, we are marginally above the minimum CUF in all these FDREs. You can say in a 40% bid, it will be around 43%-45%. In a 50% bid, it will be around 50%-55%. On a hybrid, we will be around more than 30%, maybe around 35%-40%. That is the CUF. That will give a higher revenue per MW of contracted capacity. It will have a higher CapEx per MW of contracted capacity as well. The return ratios are favorable, quite favorable.
The other question is, when can we estimate or pencil in some of the capacities of FDRE in FY 2026 and FY 2027?
Yes. As we mentioned, our base case is May, June, like when Mohit asked.
May and June is the first FDRE scheduled date. What we'll try, wherever the substation is ready on a short-term open access basis, we'll try and commission it sooner by building the plant and the transmission line and every other thing. The issue with operating on an STO is that you do not get a binding commitment to evacuate. That is a slightly lower realization of your capacity. Given that we are all geared up to execute faster, we will try and—we'll try and pre-pone this. On the base case, it is May and June of 2026.
Okay. When we talk about the cost of debt, we have seen a reduction in INR 7,700 crore debt that we have of 75 basis points. Moving ahead, how much can we see an overall cost of debt reduction in the coming couple of years? Right.
In terms of the—we have only refinanced right now one of the projects of GEIST, which is 300 MW out of the 1,200 MW which we recently commissioned. That got us a rating of AA minus. As you know, interest rates are dependent on the credit rating. We are expecting that all of this 1,200 MW should get a good rating in the similar band which the earlier project has got. Right now, if we borrow, we are typically getting 8.5%-8.6% at that credit rating. Of course, it is expected to improve as the rates fall, which is again a macroeconomic thing. We are not really projecting it, but of course, it is likely to happen that if the rates fall, we are likely to get some benefit of the new refinancing.
Of course, what we have refinanced already is locked in for a year, so we'll not get a benefit for at least 10 years where we have already taken a disbursement. Where the sanctions are in place and we are dependent on a base rate, we may get benefit depending on when we take disbursement. It is expected to reduce. The reduction could be dependent on the base rates which are expected to reduce. Of course, the improvement in credit rating allows us to get the best-in-class rate for an operational asset, which is around 8.5% today for a AA asset. We are taking long-term financings. We are not taking a short-term 5-year, 7-year financing.
These are all long-term financings we have taken for 20 years, which allows us to get free cash flow to equity which we need to do CapEx and which allows us to improve the return ratios of the project also.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Akash Mehta from Canara HSBC Life. Please proceed.
Yeah. Hi. Yeah. Just can you help with the capacity additions that we are kind of expecting in fiscal 2026 and 2027? I mean, we have given a number of 7 GW by 2027, 2028. But if you can just help us with the year-wise number. And second would be, I mean, any ballpark EBITDA that we could kind of be looking at in terms of forecast.
Yeah. Right. Right.
On an FY 2026 basis, we are very close to achieving our targets as per PPA timelines. 450 MW is what we are adding in this year. That is the AC basis. On a DC basis, it could be, you can say, 600 MW peak or around that number. In terms of FY 2027, bulk of our capacity is coming up in FY 2027, which is as per the signed PPAs, which we just mentioned, around 2.2 GW, right? 2.2 GW of capacity is coming up in FY 2027 because all of the PPA has been signed. Ankit, correct me if I am wrong. 2.2 GW is what should come up in—1.89 GW. 1.89 GW. 1.89 GW in FY 2027. Of course, we are building the rest of the plants also. I will be able to give you the timeline once the PPA gets signed.
That is something which we are expecting beyond FY 2027, where the PPAs have not been signed, but we have begun construction. Our execution will not get delayed. Of course, we will not do CapEx until the PPA gets signed. That is the capacity which will shift beyond FY 2027. We have already blocked connectivities, which allows us to commission before FY 2027. We will get, let's say, a grace period to commission post-FY 2027 also because you get two years to commission post-PPA signing. The rest of the capacity you can put beyond FY 2027, which, Ankit, you can quantify what's that number.
Yeah. Roughly around 2 GW.
Roughly around 2 GW.
Yeah. Okay. I think that's helpful.
I mean, in terms of incremental bidding, since there are a lot of things in pipeline, you'll be looking for more projects or probably you'll be looking to enter, maybe you'll take a break, maybe of six months or a year, and then looking at more projects for your 10-GW target for fiscal 2030?
Yes, yes. You are right. In terms of the breathing space and time, we have already taken that. We have not won in last, as you would have seen in the last six months, we have not won much capacity. Of course, the bids have been also slow. In this industry, what you have to also realize is that it's a question of optimizing tariffs and optimizing the construction timelines.
What we are trying to do rather than being aggressive on the bids is being aggressive on the execution ahead of time. Like we have already built a merchant plant in Sikar. That plant is a very big strategic advantage for us because we can plug into any of these PPAs which we get or which we have not got still and commission it immediately. Considering the merchant market today, we have a very healthy tariff going on for the next couple of years given the peak deficit. What we are trying to get is some of the connectivities which we have. We will try and build those connectivities, and we are able to get financing also for the merchant plants. We will keep on building these plants once we get financing.
We will not build a plant where we do not get financing on the debt side because we want to cover our risks. Of course, we will put them into a PPA when we get a good bid. In terms of the, we will always try to be financially prudent in terms of scheduling our CapEx as per the available resources because we do not intend to raise any further equity for funding the CapEx we have. We will always try and bid conservatively. In terms of the new project profile, they are all coming with storage. The CapEx per bid has reduced because they have less of, you can say, less of wind capacity and more of solar and battery. CapEx has reduced.
But still, we will try and basically stagger our PPAs and stagger our commissioning timelines such that we reach 10 GW, but we reach in a way which is yearly-wise more balanced and concentrated in a particular year.
Okay. I think that's helpful. Thank you a lot and all the best.
Thank you, Akash.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dhruv Muchhal from HDFC AMC. Please proceed.
Yes, sir. Thank you so much. The gross block number that we have reported in the PPT, about INR 14,100 crore, does this include for the newly commissioned secchi projects, does it 1,200 MW, does it include the duty portion also on the modules?
Yes, it includes that.
Okay. Ideally, when we look at the gross, because this is not what you will depreciate, I believe.
This is, I mean, so your actual cash spend will be much lower. Is that right?
Yes, yes. Yes, yes.
If you can share what that number is of the duty portion.
It is around INR 4,500 crore.
Correct me if I am wrong, Arun, right?
As far as the duty number is, it is close to around INR 2,100 crore.
No, no. The cash portion he is asking, that is around INR 4,500 crore, right?
Yeah. That is around INR 4,500 crore.
No, sir. The duty portion within the gross block is about INR 2,100 crore.
Yes, yes. That is for the six projects. That is not for the 1,200 MW. For the 1,200 MW, it will be around INR 1,400 crore. INR 1,400 crore.
INR 1,400 crore, yes. That is it. Yeah. One second. If I just adjust INR 1,400 crore, yeah. Perfect. Makes sense.
The second question is, as you mentioned, the ALCM probably leads to an increase in tariffs. The industry understanding is the tariffs for pure vendor solar can go to about INR 3, INR 3.1 approximate. I do not know if people get more aggressive. When I look at your pipeline projects, for example, you have an Omega project, if I am not wrong, which is Omega Ujja Solar of 300 MW. If that is not wrong, the tariff is about INR 2.5. I am just curious why this project does not get signed because the new tariffs will come at, say, vanilla solar will come at INR 3, and you have a project which is selling at INR 2.5. Probably, if I am not wrong, if the PPA is signed before the June period, you also get transmission waiver, while the new projects with ALCM will also not have transmission waiver.
I'm just curious to understand, as an example, this project, why is it not getting signed?
Right, right, right. I think the one thing is that on the GEIST waiver front, it's the commissioning date, and it's not the PPA signing date. There is no advantage per se. Of course, you are very right that 2.52 is a very attractive tariff, and we are expecting that PPA to get signed very soon. It's something which you are right that the tariffs will be higher going forward. Of course, what the other thing is happening is there are no pure solar bids coming. They are now going to come up with some component of battery, right? These are some of the few remaining pure solar tenders.
Given the overall profile of having some bit of peak power, these are, you can say, the residual solar which is going to get picked up very soon. You are right that it is an attractive tariff. Like you rightly said, also the aggression also is there. Sometimes the tariff should be three, but may not be three, right? You will see that the tariff will be somewhere between, not in the very this thing because the interest rates and, of course, the people have integrated facilities. You will see that it will be 2.7-2.8. Of course, it could be it may not capture the full impact because the sell prices are also benign. The raw material prices are also benign currently because the Chinese raw materials are also not getting good customers abroad.
It may not go that high, but still 2.52 is an attractive tariff and should get signed. Dhruv, actually, let me a little bit explain. Right now, most of the utilities—this is Manoj here—most of the utilities, they are looking union and morning power, right? They are not that much attractive to just buy solar, right? They are all preferring solar with battery, solar FDRE, those things, right? This is a very new phenomenon. You must have seen the government direction also that solar should be installed with the battery. There are actually few PPAs or few tenders which are still open in the pure solar category, and they will get signed. Price-wise, it is very attractive; it should get signed. Right now, most of the utilities are preferring evening and morning power.
They are preferring FDRE, solar plus batteries, those type of powers.
Yeah. I'm just wondering, I mean, all these tenders of pure solar are so, I mean, cheaper than the new ALCM-based solar tenders. Why not align a battery along with it? I'm not sure. Of course, that's a regulatory—
No, you can't do. Actually, you cannot do anything in the bidded tender. Yeah? That is the challenge. If you ask me.
The coms will have to think about it, but yeah, I think that is the—
Yeah, yeah. They have to do separate bid for battery because it is all Section 63 bidding. You cannot change in the configuration. But the good thing is that you get the battery connectivity along with it.
When you build a solar plant at a particular CTU substation, it allows you to get the night connectivity along with it, which is a big plus because, let's say, if we build this plant, we will get the battery connectivity and use it in the future bids also.
Got it. Sure. The next question was on the point of pre-poning some of your FDRE projects. I think the battery portion—so I'm just trying to understand how does it help. Can you start supplying to the DISCOM if you pre-pone it, or you are looking at optimizing it on the merchant basis because probably you commissioned the battery portion of the project early and optimized by selling it on the grid because you have that lever available for the few months? Is that what you're—
Right. Right.
See, there are facilities available in the PPA where you could procure the battery power from a third party, which is basically you can have it on a merchant basis till the time you plug it into a PPA. What you can do till the time you plug into a PPA, you can install the batteries on an already operational substation and use the infrastructure there. When the rest of the component is ready, you can start supplying to that PPA.
Okay. Until the PPA official, I mean, is commissioned, till that time, you will be selling that power on merchant basis?
Yes, yes, yes. That is one of the options.
Yeah. Got it.
I mean, speaking to some, it seems that I'm not very clear about funding for battery projects because is the funding for battery projects now available, or still there is some hurdle in terms of warranties and insurance and all those claims from the lenders?
In the INR 16,000 crores of financing we have obtained, right, almost leaving apart one or two projects, all of them have battery components. That is something which has already happened. Renew recently operationalized the battery plant, right? They have got international lenders, Indian lenders. That hurdle has been crossed for a large portion of projects. All the leading lenders are comfortable with battery. That has been aided by the government push, of course, right? There is a PLI scheme. There are a lot of state governments that are also buying large amounts of batteries.
The understanding about the battery has really improved in the last year or so. Everybody realizes that this is a good CapEx, and it should be supported. We are seeing good traction even for the merchant battery. Okay. Batteries, I mean, for lenders, batteries is not a hurdle in terms of approving and all those. That is primarily being driven by the adoption of this technology by the largest player, which is the government, right? State governments are very much understanding how it benefits them because they are also seeing their peak deficit. They are also seeing how it adds value. If everybody is doing CapEx, government is doing CapEx. That also supports this kind of adoption.
Okay. Thank you. Otherwise, that is very helpful. Thanks.
Thanks a lot, Dhruv.
Thank you.
Before I take the next question, I would like to remind participants that you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Anit Suri from Emkay Global. Please proceed.
Yes. Hello. Sure. So just a quick question on the CUF. I just wanted to check. You mentioned that the Rajasthan capacity has a CUF of 29.4% as opposed to the overall CUF of 25.6%. Is there any specific reason why this has a 4% higher CUF than the rest of the capacity, maybe like a different cell technology or something?
Right. The primary reason is there are twofold. One is regulatory. In our past projects, the tariff used to be higher. Because of that, the CUF was capped at 19%, in some cases 18%.
Because the tariff was high, nobody wanted to buy a larger quantum of power, so they restricted the CUF. All of our old projects have some kind of limitation around that. Post 2017, once we have signed from the central REIAs, this cap was removed. Post 2017, projects do not have this cap. The second reason, which is more to do with the sunlight, is basically that Rajasthan gets, you can say, around 5-10% higher radiation than the rest of the states in terms of leaving apart some parts of Gujarat, which is at par with Rajasthan. It gets a higher radiation than other states. Because of the higher proportion of the power being located in Rajasthan, we also get advantage of that. Everybody gets advantage of that, whoever is located in that region.
The third reason, which is, again, the technical configuration of plants, which has been consistent. It's not a new thing for us. We have been doing higher CUF because in terms of sharing the AC infrastructure with the larger DC infrastructure by putting more modules of around 1.5 times overloading on each inverter. That is, again, a technical point which helps us to generate these kinds of CUF because given the cost-benefit, it makes sense to install more modules over the same AC infrastructure. These are the three reasons. Rajasthan has a higher sort of CUF than, let's say, some of the older PPAs. The primary reason is regulatory. The rest two reasons are, you can see, contributing also.
Just to add here, one more point.
This 25.6% that you are seeing for the full year, the GEIST, which is 200 MW, only ran for three months in the last year. The full stabilization, you will see the numbers reflecting in the current year, for which it will run for the full year this year. Apparently, this will increase from 25.6%, which was there.
Yeah. Understood. Yeah. That makes sense. The second question I have is in terms of funding. Regarding the funding, you mentioned that INR 16,000 crore roughly of funding have been secured for the under-construction capacity. Is that going to be fully debt-funded, or basically, just wanted to understand if the INR 16,500 crore is the entire number, or are we funding something from internal accruals as well? Right.
The INR 16,500 crore we mentioned is the debt financings we have, right, for the PPA signed projects, which is around 1,800 MW of ASTM, which we have financing for. Equity, already we mentioned we have currently cash accruals of around INR 2,900 crore, which are in place. We have unutilized, basically, equity, which will get released of around INR 1,500 crore more, which we can take in terms of the unutilized credit lines which we have available for our equity portion. That will take the, which is basically aided by the free cash flow equity of the operational projects, by the EPC margins, and of course, by these credit lines which are available. That will contribute to the equity portion. The INR 16,500 crore is the debt portion, long-term project finance, which is available to us. Let's say 25-75 or 20-80s are debt equity.
Let's say one-fourth of this number is the equity we need. We do have that already. You can see the INR 16,000 crores of debt will be supplemented by around INR 4,000 crores of equity, and that will help us do INR 20,000 crores of CapEx.
Understood. Just the last one, if I can ask, maybe this has already been answered, but regarding the BESS commissioning, is there any specific timeline that you could provide?
Right. Like we said, we are doing one pilot project, which will be executed in our operational sites in 200 MW. We are targeting that for Q2, the later part of Q2. That is a pilot project. Large-scale project, we are targeting to do in Q3. We have already done the tie-ups, like we mentioned.
Depending on all the components and all the accruals, that's something we are trying to do because we are also very geared up to utilize the gap between the peak power rates and the base power. We think it makes imminent sense to try and commission them early. We are all geared up. We commission projects which have required the connectivity in place and the operational projects in place, which allow you to do that.
Right. Got it. Got it. That's clear enough. Thank you, sir. Thanks for taking my questions. All the best. Thanks a lot.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Anuj Upadhyay from Investec. Please proceed.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. Much of the questions have been answered. Just want certain clarity on the wind project.
Offline, we have been seeing that wind has been significantly underperforming. Two of our last five years, probably the performance has been quite weak. This probably could have an impact on the committed output across our FDRE and hybrid tender. Just want to get your thoughts on it. How, as a developer, are we trying to deal with this kind of a risk asset?
Right, Anuj. You are very right in terms of the past performance of wind. Of course, as a technology, it is very useful. In terms of the predictability, it is much lower than solar. We, of course, are looking at it the same way you are looking at it. When we persisted with solar for more than 10 years, 12 years of our operations, we were going by the same philosophy that it is much more predictable.
It is, of course, more driven by technology as compared to wind. Of course, it will be a cheaper form of power, and it will be a more viable form of power for all the utilities to purchase the solar power. When we got wind, we were basically looking at the hybrid projects and the FDRE projects. That is why we did a small project of 150 MW, which we are executing in Gujarat. This bit, like now you have seen the battery prices also coming down. That, of course, has a big impact on reducing the wind component.
The wind strategic role, which was there earlier in an FDRE plan, is no longer that strategic because the solar and battery is able to compete very well with the component of wind, with the uncertainties built in in wind and reliability built in in solar and battery. That's a big plus because in an FDRE project, what you need other than volumes is the certainty because there are penalties which are there in these projects. As a prudent developer, we always try and aim for certainty. Our wind components are very low in any of these FDRE. In hybrid, you can't help it. You have to have one-third component as wind. That much bare minimum wind we will do.
Of course, in those projects also, when we factor in a tariff, we factor in a very conservative wind CUF, keeping in mind these past performances. That is how we are planning to play this, Anuj.
Fair enough, sir. Secondly, sir, on your FY2030 target, currently we are at, say, 2.7 operational. We will be adding, say, another 3.5-4.5 GW capacity by FY2027-2028. From there till FY2030, we are targeting around 10 GW. Just to get a sense, are we too conservative in terms of capacity addition target, or is there some huge potential to revise this target going ahead? Lastly, any thoughts of getting into pump hydro or any other storage detail?
Anuj, there are two things there in terms of this target. When we talk about target, we talk about contracted capacity, and we do not talk about installed capacity.
Some of the companies talk about installed capacity, which will be, let's say, for us also more than 20 GW when we install this around 10 GW on because the solar and the battery and various other equipment which go is multiples of the contracted capacity. For a 250-MW plant, let's say we will have more than 500 MW-600 MW of installed capacity. We are not focused on boosting these GW targets because ultimately it's about profitability. We don't really document it on an installed capacity basis. Our number will be quite high on our installed capacity numbers, and we can share with you that number. In terms of contracted capacity, which determines your revenue and CUF, this is 7 GW is what we are trying to reach. As we move forward, this 10 GW again is a combination of FDRE and hybrid.
This will be leading to a huge number on installed capacity, which will be 20+ GW . That is one. Secondly, in terms of the execution capacity of a single corporate, right now, we are an integrated player with EPC built-in, and these are all large infrastructure projects. In terms of increasing our ability to execute more, the land is one of the primary constraints because you need a large parcel of contiguous land, which government land can help you get there. We are trying, like we mentioned earlier, to secure a large portion of lands, which will help us improve this run rate on a per-year execution. Of course, bidding is easy, right, because you can bid. In terms of building, you have to have a pipeline which you are delivering, as you mentioned.
For that, this bit of contiguous land having upfront before the bid is important. I would say we are rational rather than conservative. In terms of the last thing you asked about PSP, we do have a project in Uttar Pradesh. Of course, we will be very careful in terms of not doing it on merchant basis. We will always do it on a PPA. Of course, we will factor in the timeline it takes to build up a PSP plant and the various associated approvals. We hear that the government is looking at rationalizing these approvals and process time because government also wants to push this form of power. We will be ready whenever that opportunity comes up because we do have a couple of projects which we can take up.
Of course, as of now, the battery power looks like something which you can opportunistically scale up. The government is also looking at that if you look at the state government CapEx around battery and PSP. We are oriented in the direction which the market is today. We will keep on developing the asset. We will not do CapEx until we get a good tariff, which is in sync with the construction risk of a PSP.
That's helpful. What quantum this PSP would be in UP which you mentioned?
It's a 600 into 6 MW hour of storage, 6 hours of storage. That's the approval. We are very close to getting the stage one forest. We are in discussions with CEA for getting the DTR approved.
We already have applied to state for the incentive scheme approval as well.
Fine, sir. That is quite helpful. Thanks, sir. Wish you good luck.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I take this as the last question and would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Sabri Hazarika for closing comments. Over to you, sir.
Yeah. I would like to thank the management and all the participants for the insightful comments. Before ending, I would request Mr. Manoj Kumar Upadhyay, sir, for his closing comment. Over to you, sir.
Good morning. I would like to start with while Nikhil has touched upon the performance of the year, I would also like to mention some of the areas we could have done better. I think PPA signing, we were expecting to sign 400 MW-500 MW last quarter, but unfortunately, it shifted to this quarter.
This forecasting of signing the PPA is one learning I think we have to build in built-in our system. Although we have very limited control how the REIA deals with the state government, this area, I think I would like my team to work on so we are able to give you this thing. Second area is, I think we wanted to do our Sikar 300 MW solar plant. We wanted to install by 31 March, but somehow we slipped by 60 days. While the installation, we also faced India-Pakistan issues. A few days, we had to really shut the installation and commissioning. Although we wanted to do much before that, this is a learning that we need to really keep some more time for commissioning.
As commissioning is becoming more and more tougher because the regulatory requirement of the power factor correction, harmonics, flickering, the government is more and more looking to ensure that all the plants are compliant for the grid stability. The similar thing happened with our 50 MW. We wanted to commission this thing. I am pleased to share with you that it is under commissioning. Maybe in this week, we will be able to share with you that they get commissioned. I would like to highlight that we continue to focus on the technology, innovation, and the execution to build a future-ready and sustainable portfolio. We want to cater to India's requirement of growing energy demand. I see that this will more happen right in the FDRE or a base power or a peaking power instead of the solar time or wind time power.
You will see more and more such adoption. We are ready to do that. As a company, we have been testing this solution for quite a long time. We have made remarkable progress this year. I wish to express my sincere thanks to all the investors, lenders, regulatory authorities, and employees for our success. I thank you for your commitment, excellence, and belief in my vision. Thank you again. Thanks.
On behalf of Emkay Global Financial Services Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.