"Majority Of Our Business Will Come From Private Commercial & Industrial Customers"

Having recently secured $650 million from KKR, Serentica Renewables aims to play a big role in India's decarbonisation journey. CEO AKSHAY HIRANANDANI speaks to BW Businessworld's Arjun Yadav on the business dynamics, the policy ecosystem and recent partnership with the state of Andhra Pradesh. Excerpts

- Arjun Yadav

At COP26, Prime Minister Modi set ambitious targets for 2030 and 2070. Where are we in that journey, and how do you see Serentica positioned? Going forward, how do you see the company playing a larger part in this journey?

The Prime Minister’s vision of achieving 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030 is ambitious. With 35-40 per cent of India’s electricity consumed by commercial and industrial sectors, decarbonising this segment could contribute 250-300 GW. Serentica focuses on providing round-the-clock green energy, overcoming concerns about intermittency and ensuring consistent, high-quality power delivery to industries. India is nearing 150 GW from wind and solar, alongside 50 GW from hydro, and progress depends on effective execution. With robust support from central and state governments, developers now hold the key to realising this energy vision.

So, the commercial and industrial sectors seem to be the primary focus for the company. What other segments are you looking at?

The renewable energy sector serves two key customer groups: private commercial and industrial (C&I) customers and government-owned discoms, purchasing power via SECI, NTPC, NHPC, and JVN. We believe the majority of our business will come from private C&I customers, where we can contribute most to India’s decarbonisation efforts, though we’ve also secured four public sector tenders. We offer solutions like load-following power curves. While C&I customers are typically more receptive to innovative power solutions, government entities are showing increasing interest. Our approach centres on service-oriented, product-based solutions, and we’re witnessing strong traction, especially in the private C&I space.