What Is Giving Tata Power An Upper Hand In Rooftop Solar Biz?

At a time when India has planned to link one crore households with rooftop solar, Tata Power has set its sights on capturing 30 percent of the target from rivals. The salt-to-solar conglomerate aims to connect 3 million (30,00,000) households with rooftop solar under the PM Surya Ghar scheme alone in the next three years.

Unique Position

This comes as several national and state-level EPC companies are competing to secure their share of this ambitious target. So, what gives Tata Power the confidence to achieve it? Beyond scale, the group also benefits from procuring its own solar modules and cells, allowing it to secure better margins than rivals dependent on external manufacturers for rooftop solar system components.

Tata Power is also among the very few players at scale to have both its own manufacturing unit and EPC services (including with its channel partners) in the residential rooftop solar business. Rivals such as ReNew, Avaada, and Waaree Group — though active in manufacturing and EPC — have not focused much on the residential rooftop solar business, concentrating instead on utility-scale projects or solar installations for C&I consumers.

A Profitable Venture

The company considers rooftop solar a pillar of its robust financial performance. As per its disclosures, Tata Power achieved a record 45,500 rooftop solar installations in Q1 FY26, equivalent to 270 MWp of installed capacity.

“Our rooftop business again has done exceedingly well. It has shown a huge increase in terms of the number of units we have been supplying as also in terms of megawatts and this has also demonstrated in higher revenue and higher PAT. Going forward, this will only increase because the supply chain has been further streamlined and the number of units that we have started supplying per month are very, very high numbers and this is further going to increase in next two quarters,” the management told its investors recently.

Less Competition, Says Company

The company’s top management attributes its rising rooftop solar business to “limited players” who can operate at the same scale. It also sees in-house availability of DCR solar cells as a key factor boosting profit and ensuring hassle-free access to these components, which also provides higher margins. Under the mandate of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, DCR-based solar modules are mandatory for government schemes like PM Surya Ghar.

“Rooftop business practically 100% is now our own cell and module DCR and also in many of our projects we are using our own cell and module. So, I think going forward you will see more and more of these type of projects happening with DCR cells and modules,” Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD of Tata Power said.

The DCR Advantage

Tata Power now benefits from its in-house solar cell facility in Tamil Nadu under TP Solar. The company claims that both solar cell and module production have scaled up significantly. TP Solar produced 904 MW of cells and 949 MW of modules in Q1 FY26. It also achieved record daily production levels — 11 MW of modules per day for 25 days and 12 MW of cells per day for 12 days during the quarter.

While many solar module makers face delays in sourcing DCR cells or complain of untimely delivery of DCR modules, Tata Power’s internal availability of these items and its integrated EPC capabilities are working in the company’s favor.

Rising Demand Expected

The top management believes demand for rooftop solar will only grow.

“What you will see is that the volume will increase tremendously because there is a huge demand and as you rightly mentioned there are not many players who are able to cater to that. And this is a brand and a demand for this product that we are building in the market so that we become number one or we are already number one but become number one with a much better service and quality of supply in this,” Sinha added.

Adding More Channel Partners

On rooftop business margins, Dr. Praveer Sinha explained that while the company is not solely focused on market share, it is working to improve reach by expanding its channel partner network.

“We are not looking at market share but we are definitely looking at improving our reach in the market. And today our reach in the market has improved and it is further getting enhanced as we continue to add more of channel partners and market segments in which we are supplying. We are making good returns in that and I think we will continue to make the type of returns that you have seen,” Sinha said.

Supplies by Tata Power

For the rooftop market outlook, Sinha highlighted the massive demand, citing rapid growth in monthly supply.

“Last year March, we supplied 1,000 units. This year, March, we supplied 8,000 units. This year, June, we supplied 20,000 units and hopefully later part of this year, we will supply 40,000 to 50,000 units per month. So, the demand is humongous. The country, you know PM Surya Ghar, has said 1 crore households. We have actually in the country 25 crore households. So, whatever we will do will be still very small compared to the total market opportunity which is there,” Sinha said.