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Informist, Thursday, May 15, 2025

By Avishek Rakshit & Ashutosh Pati

KOLKATA/MUMBAI – JSW Energy has planned to spend INR 150 billion to INR 180 billion in the current financial year to step up its energy production capacity by completing ongoing projects and putting planned projects in the pipeline.

"The under-construction portfolio includes 9.7 gigawatt of renewable energy projects and 1.6 gigawatt of Salbani Ultra Supercritical thermal power project which marks our investment in greenfield thermal after more than a decade," said Sharad Mahendra, the joint managing director and chief executive officer at JSW Energy, at a conference call with sector analysts after declaring its financial results for the quarter and year ended March.

Beyond these projects, the company also have a pipeline of approximately 4.9 gigawatt of projects where letter of intent or letter of awards have been secured, but the power purchase agreements are yet to be signed, Mahendra said. During Jan-Mar, JSW Energy commissioned the second unit of the 350 megawatt Ind-Bharat JSW Utkal power plant and also consummated two acquisitions--the 3.6 gigawatt-strong KSK Mahaladi Power and 4.7 gigawatt-strong O2 Power.

"Currently, 1,800 megawatt is operational (in KSK Mahaladi Power) which is 95% tied up under PPAs (power purchase agreements) and has fuel supply agreements. We have improved PLF (plant load factor) from 67.4% which was witnessed during the year to 79% post completion of the transaction in just 25 days of operations which we did in the month of March," Mahendra said, adding currently JSW Energy is integrating operations of this plant with itself and implementing a comprehensive plan to bring in cost efficiencies and improve the plant efficiency as well.

"The current installed capacity of O2 power is 1.3 gigawatt and we expect it to scale to 4.7 gigawatt by Jun. 27 by undertaking capital expenditure of between INR 13,000 and 14,000 crores (INR 130 billion–INR 140 billion)," the official said.

In the company's under-construction portfolio, it is currently building an 11.3 gigawatt of generation projects, all of which are fully tied up under long-term power purchase agreements. This under-construction portfolio includes 9.7 gigawatt of renewable energy projects and 1.6 gigawatt of thermal power project.

Considering the solar module manufacturing capacities of around 100 gigawatt which have been operational in the country, JSW Energy has halted it plan of going ahead with manufacturing equipment for solar energy.

"We will not say that we have dropped, we have kept in abeyance as and when we feel the need we will be going ahead but if immediately for the correct fiscal we are not going ahead with this," Mahendra said.

Talking about the industry scenario, Mahendra said that India's total installed capacity has reached 475 gigawatt and the country added 33 gigawatt of power in 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), of which 29 gigawatt was in renewable energy.

"The power demand for the country grew 4.2% in FY25. In the fourth quarter, we saw a demand growth of 3.2% year-on-year on a high base of 7.4% growth seen last year in the same quarter. Structurally, we continue to expect strong power demand in the medium term," he said. Thursday, shares of JSW Energy closed 2.6% higher at INR 487.40 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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