New Delhi: Tata Power plans to double its capex to Rs 12,000 crore in the current financial year with a focus on renewable energy, distribution, transmission and solar equipment manufacturing capacity. Addressing the 104th Annual General Meeting on Monday, Tata Power Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said, “To meet the growth targets, your company (Tata Power) has planned to invest around Rs 12,000 crore, which is expected to reach Rs. That’s double the capital expenditure spent in 2013.”
He informed that this capex includes investment in upcoming 4 GW manufacturing plant, renewable projects under construction, transmission and distribution businesses in Odisha, Delhi and Mumbai and new opportunities.
“Your company plans to finance these projects largely from internal resources and cash on hand,” he told shareholders. He assured that the 4 GW cell and module manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu is well on track, and we expect the module line to be ready by October 2023 and the cell line by the end of the year.
Tata Power will also focus on the power distribution business in the country and bid for discom utilities in the country. “Given the company’s successful track record in turning around discoms, it will look to participate in privatization opportunities whenever policy reforms are undertaken,” he said.
Tata Power plans to become the ESG benchmark in the power sector, outlining 3 key goals – to be carbon net zero by 2045, 100% water neutral by 2030, and have no net impact on biodiversity before 2030 To be and an organization Zero Waste to Landfill before 2030. Based on the performance, the directors have recommended a dividend of 200 per cent, which is Rs 2 per equity share of Re 1, he said.
Better performance across its businesses resulted in a consolidated revenue growth of 32 per cent to Rs 56,033 crore as against Rs 42,576 crore in FY20, he said. Consolidated reported PAT (net profit) grew by 77 per cent to Rs 3,810 crore as against Rs 2,156 crore in FY22 due to better performance across all business groups.
He pointed out that in 2022, the renewables sector would see a maximum investment of USD 500 billion out of the USD 1.11 trillion low carbon energy investments made globally. In India, Chandrasekaran said a combination of accelerated economic growth, rising industrial and commercial activities and changing weather patterns (including heatwaves) are expected to push peak power demand to a record high of 216 GW in the early months of fiscal 2023. inspired.
India’s electricity demand grew at a rapid rate of nearly 9 per cent in FY23 and in the last five years, the growth in electricity demand has outpaced the country’s GDP growth rate by 1.11 times. He said that despite the high growth rate, India’s per capita electricity consumption remains one of the lowest in the world. He said that in the coming years, the main focus will continue to be on renewable energy with a target of achieving 500 GW of non-fossil installed capacity in 2030.
He said that India is the only large economy, which is harnessing renewable development to meet the growth in the country’s electricity demand and not replacing/replacing thermal power.
Chandrasekaran told shareholders, “Your company, being one of the largest integrated power companies, is well positioned to take advantage of the growth opportunities in the sector.”
On Solar Rooftop, he informed the shareholders that the company has built a wide channel network of 450 dealers across 275 districts, which provides a significant advantage.
During the last quarter of FY2023, Solar Rooftops, along with captive solar EPC projects, crossed Rs 1,000 crore in revenue, doubling from the previous year.
For the full year, the company delivered revenue of ₹2,770 crore, a year-on-year growth of 83 per cent. The business has a healthy closing order book of Rs 1,000 and 100 crore till March 2023 in the solar rooftop segment, he added.
The distribution business has performed well. Chandrasekaran said, it continues to serve over 12 million customers, making your company the largest private power distribution utility in the country.
While the country is in the midst of an energy transition, it is important for conventional power plants to continue running at optimum capacity given the increase in electricity demand.
“In this regard, your company’s conventional plants remain available at close to 90 percent,” he said.