Que: Can you share Onix Renewable’s expansion plans and are there an upcoming capacity additions or new markets you are targeting?

Ans: Our projects span across the country’s renewable energy landscape including wind and solar energy generation, independent power producer (IPP), EPC solutions, battery energy storage solutions, operations and maintenance, and hybrid systems, transmission and distribution, solar cell manufacturing, green hydrogen and ammonia, green fuel and aviation fuel etc. Our current capacity for solar energy generation project is 3000 MW. The present scale of our EPC projects is 4000 MW. We have IPP projects in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan and our objective is to increase the capacity to 3000 MW by 2026. We have plans to increase our solar cell and module manufacturing capacity to 5 GW in the next three years. Our larger goal is to scale the capacity up to 10 GW by 2030. The new manufacturing facility in Gujarat will be operational in the next six months. So, our operations are spread across a broad spectrum of the renewable energy ecosystem. Our offices are in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Dubai.

Que: Onix Renewable is actively involved in IPP projects. Can you elaborate on the current portfolio and how these projects contribute to the company’s revenue?

Ans: We are working towards setting up our IPP projects in Thailand and Brazil. We have IPP projects in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan and our presence capacity is 3500 MW. We aim to increase the capacity to 3000 MW by 2026. IPP projects constitute a significant share of the company's revenue.

Que: What are the biggest challenges facing the renewable energy sector in India today and how is Onix planning to overcome these?

Ans: The renewable energy sector is witnessing three key challenges - varying policies, limited access to financing and land acquisition bottlenecks. Extension of PLI scheme for solar module manufacturing for another five years with an increased outlay of INR 24,000 crores is a move in the right direction. To achieve the target of 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, the sector requires a bigger policy push. In addition, access to finance is a challenge for the sector. The share of banks in renewable energy financing is still small compared to that of non-banking financing companies (NBFCs). Therefore, there is an urgent need to assign green energy financing obligations to banks to make financing accessible to the sector to accelerate the country’s renewable energy journey1. Availability of land while complying with the regulatory and environmental norms, community engagement, etc. is a challenge, as the renewable energy projects are usually located at far-flung locations. Obtaining right-of-way (RoW) is a key challenge for setting up transmission and distribution projects. We require government’s interventions to address the issues.

Having said that, we always try to address land-related issues at the initial stage by engaging with the local stakeholders. We try to build awareness on the long-term benefits of the project. Our team also tries to identify the local needs for socio-economic improvements and build plans to address the demands. We build long-term partnerships with the local suppliers. We work towards setting up processes to monitor environmental issues and develop socio economic projects.

Que: Given Onix Renewable’s rapid growth, is there a roadmap for taking the company public through an IPO?

Ans: We have prepared the draft documentation and are gearing up for public listing by the end of this calendar year.

Que: What role do you see Onix playing in India’s target of achieving 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030?

Ans: Our vision is aligned with the country’s renewable energy transition goal. We operate across a broad renewable energy landscape. Banking on our expertise and experience, we are well-positioned to contribute to the country’s renewable energy goal.

Que: Do you foresee AI, IoT, and predictive analytics playing a greater role in renewable energy management, and how is Onix leveraging these technologies?

Ans: Data-driven new-age technologies will transform the renewable energy sector by boosting efficiency, decreasing costs, optimising energy storage and distribution as well as superior renewable energy integration into power grids. These technologies will make sustainable energy management sustainable and intelligent. We have plans to deploy the technologies in the near future, as we scale up our operations.

Que: Green hydrogen is gaining momentum in India. Does Onix Renewable have any plans to enter this space?

Ans: Building green hydrogen capacity is critical for building self-reliance in clean energy and achieving net zero goal. We have partnered with a German company for setting up advanced electrolysers for manufacturing green hydrogen in line with the National Green Hydrogen Mission. We have plans to build annual production capacity of green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol to 1 lakh metric tonne.