Azure Power – Solar Reach in India

Following my story Azure Power continues to shine in India, Azure Power has become one of the fast growing solar companies in India. Founded in 2008 and having a presence pan India, the company has a solar portfolio across 14 Indian states. The company is an independent power producer with a 250 MW running capacity most of which is in Punjab. It is the largest operator under National Solar Mission. The company has successfully cut costs along the years and is present across utility and commercial distributed generation market. Unfortunately the residential rooftop market in India is still in a very nascent stage, but is showing fast progression. Azure Power has already entered the commercial rooftop market in New Delhi, which is expected to be a large rooftop market in India. The first private utility scale solar project in India was developed by Azure Power in 2009.

Solid Portfolio of Solar Assets

Azure Power has a project portfolio of more than 800 MW and has covered 500 rooftops across 10 Indian states. Though the company has a huge presence in the utility market, it is progressing strongly towards the rooftop market as well. Currently the company is running more than 20 operational utility scale projects across India. The company is amongst the largest owners and operators of solar projects in Punjab, with a solar portfolio of 225 MW in the state. It currently has a total solar portfolio of more than 980 MW and a 100 MW plant in Rajasthan.

The company has been rapidly winning projects in the state auctions and reducing tariffs consistently each year. Azure Power bids at INR 4.78 per unit in January 2016 for a UP project from INR 5.12/ kWh for a 100 MW plant in AP. Azure Power beat nine other companies to emerge as a winner for this project.

Project Pipeline (January’16 in MW)

Solar As a Service

Azure Power provides “solar as a service” to its customers. The company undergoes all processes right from designing, financing, execution, operation and maintenance of solar plants, through Solar Power Purchase Agreements with governments, utilities and commercial customers. It sells the power generated to government utilities and industrial & commercial customers at fixed prices, without involving multiple third party services.

The company is also involved in rural electrification, as a constructor and operator of micro-grid in villages.

Also read Solar Companies with a Social Drive in India.

The major clients of Azure are Electricity Departments of states. The company’s good relations with the banks is also an added advantage. Azure imports the modules and inverters from Germany and USA.

Cost reduction

The company successfully brought down the costs from ~INR 18/kWh in 2009 to INR 5.12/ kWh by early 2016. That is a massive 70% improvement over just six years.

Conclusion

Azure Power is all set for recognition in the international markets as well, with an IPO application filed for listing on the New York Stock Exchange during December’15. The company was also featured in the 15 startups that have a potential to be valued at ~$1 billion. Inderpreet Wadhwa, the founder of Azure Power has been lauded for entering the solar market in India, when it wasn’t very popular and there were a lot of structural hurdles in the country. It was only after the national solar policy by India that solar energy has gained the recognition it deserves in our country. Azure Power was also amongst the fewest to get funding from International Finance Corporation.

I think Azure Power is in a relatively good position to tap the relatively smaller projects in India and also make an impactful move in the rooftop residential market, which is set to explode in India.