Engie will double its renewable energy (RE) installed capacity in India to around 2.2 gigawatts (GW) by 2025 as the Indian arm of the France-based clean energy solutions giant expands footprint in the world’s fourth largest renewables market investing around $870 million, or ₹7,000 crore.
Active in India since 2014, Engie has so far invested around roughly $1.1 billion at Tuesday’s exchange rate. Its RE installed base is 1.1 GW, comprising 800 megawatt (MW) solar power and 250 MW wind energy across 7 States.
“We are building 4 new projects, which we won recently. One we’ve already started construction in Gujarat, a 400 MW project, which we won last year. Three other projects—NTPC (300 MW), NHPC (250 MW) and SECI (100 MW),” Engie India CEO and Country Manager Amit Jain told businessline.
Expanding presence
The three projects, with 650 MW capacity, will go for construction around the middle or end of 2024. Engie is waiting for the power purchase agreements (PPAs) to be signed. It has already received the letter of award (LoA), Jain added.
“So, we have 1.25 GW in the pipeline and we hope to commission them by end-2025 or early-2026. We will double our capacity from 1.1 GW to about 2.2 GW. I think what we are looking at is a total investment in India of about roughly ₹7,000 crore, by the end of 2025. That is going to be a significant investment,” he said.
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The Pune-headquartered company aims to increase its base to 5 GW by 2030. Its parent, Engie, which operates in 31 countries employing more than 96,000 professionals, has an installed renewables base of 41.4 GW and clocked revenues of around $102 billion in 2023.
When asked about India’s importance in Engie’s overall trajectory, Jain pointed out that Engie India targets to add around 800 MW RE capacity every year.
“That is a significant investment given what we are doing globally. Globally, our target is 6 GW every year till 2030. So, 800 MW out of that is a significant capacity from one country that we are doing and being present in 30 countries. So, I think India is gaining prominence in our targeted countries,” he stressed.
Clean energy solutions
When asked about issues concerning grid stability due to the growing installed base of renewables, Jain said that Engie leverages cutting edge tech solutions to manage and maintain grid stability.
“We have a grid or energy management system, GEMS, which we have currently working in various other markets, including the US and Europe, where there is high penetration of renewables. What GEMS does is balances the energy requirement vis-a-vis the grid,” he added.
Global Energy Management and Sales (GEMS) provides energy procurement solutions and risk management services. It offers a wide range of decarbonisation solutions to help clients respond to energy and climate challenges.
Commending the government’s efforts to increase energy storage systems such as pumped storage projects (PSP) and battery energy storage systems (BESS), Jain said “But, I think at the same time, you need someone (market operator) to balance the grid as well. I think from a private side we do that as a service to our clients.”
Engie aims to be an integrated energy solutions player in India, a role the company is playing effectively in various mature markets across the globe.