Solar Trailblazers Lucknow-UP's Catch Up Plan For Renewable Energy

In a session titled " UP Plays Catch Up In Renewable Energy", it was time to discuss just what has worked for India's most populous statem and what hasn't. The discussion threw up some great insights and learnings for the audience. 

Moderated by Prasanna Singh, Group Editor at SaurEnergy, other panelists included representation from developers, EPC firms, and equipment manufacturers.   

Tarunveer Singh, Co-Founder and Head, Projects, Sunsure Energy which has a significant presence in the state brought an informed perspective, while Ram Anuj Verma, Founder, RAVC Solutions was the local expert. Sunil Tiku, Chief Business Officer, Eastman Power and Auto Limited, added his weight with experience of the Up market and storage product offerings, while Akshay Bhatt, DGM, Quality, Blupine Energy brought in a perspective on getting the value proposition right without compromising on long term goals. 

Tarunveer highlighted UP's share in the total open access capacity added in India during 2024, with a 12% share out of 7 GW. Adding that the state has one of the better transmission grids, and multiple policy benefits from lower wheeling charhges, stamop duty exemptions and more, he stressed that UP remains at the heart of Sunsure Energy's future plans. The firm will be adding its first BESS facility in the state next year, among other things. As a developer focused on the C&I segment, he shared that existing clients of Susure in the state have already started asking for BESS power in the evening hours, opening up an existing demand for the firm, besides the broader industrial sector.  With UP having a set a target of 14 GW of solar parks, he was optimistic that the market would evolve to ensure easier access and availability of clean power for the state's industries.

Ram Anuj Verma, whose RAVC solutions has a presence across EPC projects and PM KUSUM in the state, stressed that besides the obvious challenge of land due to higher fragmentation of holdings, the one challenge that the state faced was lower awareness at the AE (Assistant Engineer) level of Substations. With the government taking the initiative to identify land ease regulations, he stressed that UP had led in rooftop installations in the past quarter in India. Ram Anuj clarified that PMKUSUM ground mounted projects(Component A)  in the state were more viable without resorting to financing, as financing costs could eat up margins. He praised ths speed at which the state has signed up PPA's after floating PMKUSUM tenders. He also reminded the panel about the 15 GW of PSP potential in the state, which would help balance demand and supply with a higher share of RE in the future.     

Sunil Tiku from Eastman stressed that for Eastman, UP had emerged as a key market opportunity, especially with storage solutions combined with solar. With a focus on rooftop solar, the firm expected to make significant inroads into the state with more modern lithium ion batteries and their own solar offerings, thanks to a wide portfolio of inverters as well as panels. With Time of Day billings coming up in due course, he was optimistic about the market for storage products and hybrid offerings in the state. He also highlighted the opportunity that the state still offers in off grid renewable, where storage would step in where generators were used earlier.    

Blupine's Akshay Bhatt appreciated the steps taken by the state to align policies with best practices in India, and was hopeful that Blupine would have projects in the state sooner than later. While responding to a question on the relative 'value seeking' behaviour seen in UP, he warned that while evaluating performance at Blupine, during tests they had seen wide variations in module performance and failure rates, and customers would do well to stick to experienced manufacturers. He referred to the practice in Rajasthan where EPCs are required to show six month checks on module performance including performance ratio before project commissioning.

All the panelists recognised UP's push for industry and its obvious impact on power demand, which they felt would be served increasingly by green energy at a much earlier stage than for legacy firms.  For the MSME segment to adopt renewable energy, there was consensus that expanding the net metering policy to 1 MW would be a great help.