The Centre has decided to change the name and nature of Solar Energy Corporation of India, a four-year-old central public sector undertaking set up as a not-for-profit company to promote solar energy in India.
SECI will be renamed as Renewable Energy Corporation of India (RECI) and as such its activities will embrace all branches of renewable energy, not just solar.
RECI, however, will not be a not-for-profit company. It will be allowed to seek and make profits, according to a press release from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Though SECI was not meant to make profits, it made ₹12-crore profit in 2014-15 and “has become a networth-positive PSU.”
In the current year, the company, in its new avatar as RECI, is expected to make a profit of ₹300 crore, the release says. Although SECI is a ‘Section 25 company’, its objectives include owning and operating solar power plants, including mega and ultra power projects and solar parks, trading in electricity and providing solar consultancy services.
“SECI has initiated various activities for setting up of solar power plants as also for the promotion and commercialisation of solar energy technologies, with long term perspective of assuming the role of a solar power developer,” the release says.
The industry is a little apprehensive about the move. If the role of SECI (as ‘RECI’) changes from a ‘facilitator’ to a player in the industry, it will turn out to be a competitor.
RECI would not only trade in electricity, but also trade in projects, building and selling them. On the other hand, while the Indian industry (particularly, the consultancy and EPC segments) might be affected, a large, government-backed player like RECI might be good for the country, experts in the industry concede.
Tarun Kapur, Joint Secretary, Solar, MNRE, told BusinessLine today that the industry has nothing to fear as SECI will not be a competitor.
“SECI will float tenders, and it cannot participate in its own tenders,” Kapur pointed out.