RE firm SWREL seeks India expansion by working with large corporates

Engineering major will participate in projects where supply and land risk is not there: CEO

Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy Ltd (SWREL), one of the world's largest engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) players in the solar sector, seeks to expand in the Indian market on the back of oil major Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).

SWREL, which has portfolios in the US, Australia, UAE, hinges its India growth plans by partnering with institutions. The Khavda solar project of state-owned power generator NTPC is among the works it has in its kitty.

Khavda, one of the largest solar parks planned by NTPC, will have a capacity of 4.75 gigawatts, of which SWREL will construct 1.5 GW.

Amit Jain, global chief executive officer of  SWREL, cited "risk reduction" for partnering with institutions over participating in project bidding.

"We do not plan to take land risk in India. We participate in those projects only where solar module supply and land risk is not there," Jain told Business Standard. He added that as one of the oldest EPC in the sector, his company has exhaustive checks and demands quality from its clients.

The rationale of 'plug and play' made sense for the company when it offloaded 40 per cent equity to RIL, India's largest privately owned oil and gas company that since 2020 has made aggressive investments in green energy.

Jain said SWERL’s basket of projects would be dominated by those offered by RIL. "The company has in-house demand when it comes to green energy supply, or for green fuel production. A reasonably good portion of our projects will cater to the solar plus energy storage needs of RIL," Jain said.

He added that given that RIL totally manages the supply chain—from module to battery supply—there is no uncertainty in either price or volume.

Apart from SWREL, RIL has in the last two years picked stakes or bought companies in solar module and battery storage system manufacturing.

For solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing, RIL acquired Singapore-based REC Solar. The PV cell and module facility of RIL in Jamnagar would be based on REC technology and it aims to manufacture 10 GW capacity. The facility will commence operations in 2024.

In battery manufacturing, RIL has formed strategic partnerships with Netherlands-based Lithium Werks, UK’s Faradion and US-based Ambri.

In green hydrogen production, for which RIL is one of the first movers, Jain said the volume uncertainty is taken care of as the oil major could be looking to shift its own fuel demand on green fuels.

Business Standard recently reported that RIL will utilise green hydrogen for its captive use, in order to reduce its fossil fuel dependence, meet its decarbonisation target to be a net zero company by 2035. RIL has partnered with Danish company Stiesdal A/S to develop and manufacture hydrogen electrolysers.

Jain said SWREL is looking to touch 3 GW or cumulative capacity in India by the end of this financial year.

SWREL is the solar EPC Division of Sterling and Wilson Private Limited. The company has operations in 28 countries, having operations in 2011 and de-merging in 2017.