Waaree Renewable Technology Ltd (WRTL), one of India’s top solar engineering and construction firms, has overcome the challenge of scaling up, according to CFO Dilip Panjwani. Speaking to a newspaper, Panjwani mentioned the company’s largest project to date, a 980 MW solar project in South India. WRTL has an unexecuted order book of 2.1 GW for the next 9-12 months, down from 2.3 GW earlier this year.
The company’s bidding pipeline has grown to 15 GW, up from 13 GW in the previous financial year. WRTL is also seeing repeat orders, with a recent 30 MW order from an existing customer. Additionally, the company is increasing its involvement in public sector projects, with the share of such contracts in its order book rising to 30% from 10%.
A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis and JMK Research & Analytics noted that renewable energy tenders in India reached a record 69 GW in FY24. Panjwani expects this to grow as the government aims to add 50 GW of renewable energy capacity annually over the next five years, targeting 500 GW by 2030.
WRTL focuses on turnkey solutions for ground-mounted, rooftop, and floating solar projects, with ground-mounted projects being the main growth driver. The company has completed over 10,000 solar projects, totaling more than 600 MW of operational capacity. Panjwani highlighted a reduction in the cost of setting up solar plants, from Rs 4.5 crore per MW to Rs 3.25-3.5 crore over the past two and a half years.
Recently, WRTL reported a three-fold increase in net profit to Rs 28.47 crore for Q1 FY25, up 138% from Rs 11.96 crore in Q1 FY24. Despite this, the company’s shares fell by 5%, hitting the lower circuit. The share price was Rs 1,538 at the time of writing.
