India recently imposed anti-dumping duties on solar panels imported from the United States, China, Taiwan and Malaysia to protect domestic solar manufacturers. Ujaas Energy, one of the beneficiaries of the order says that enquires have started improving post anti-dumping order.
The company’s order book currently stands at 23 MW. However, given that solar business is new in India and quarter to quarter analysis is not yet applicable for this business, company’s joint managing director Vikalp Mundra feels comparison of plant load factors (PLFs) is not right as there is low capacity in the system.
Meanwhile, an order on draft paper given to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) on lowering the floor price for these renewable energy certificates (RECs) is expected by November-end, he adds.
Furthermore, in an interview to CNBC-TV18, Vikalp Mundra, Joint Managing Director, Ujaas Energy spoke about the financial performance of the company for the quarter gone by and the road ahead.
Below is the verbatim transcript of Vikalp Mundra's interview to CNBC-TV18:
Q: The quarter’s performance has been impacted by two key reasons – (1) fear of antidumping duty as well as lack of clarity on these renewable energy certificates or RECs. Can you give us some timeline and if it does come in your favour how will it impact or benefit the financials of Ujaas Energy?
A: It’s a very good move by CERC and it was demanded by us and our peers to make the RECs competitive in the market. So, the final public hearing was completed on November 10 in Delhi. We expect order before end of this month. So that will improve the price of REC and then one or two good trading session of REC will back REC into the business.
Q: If the order comes November end then you can sell your inventory of 14 crore even in the January to March quarter. Will it directly show in Q4 of this fiscal year?
A: Yes, practically we sell in last three months only because our customers are mainly targeted for accelerated depreciation (AD) benefits.
Q: What is your current order book and have you got any kind of new enquiries in the last one quarter or going ahead as well do you have something in the pipeline?
A: After antidumping order the enquiries are coming in.
Q: Could you put a number?
A: We are almost having order book of 23 Megawatt.
Q: The PLFs in the previous quarter were very low. How much will it improve in Q3?
A: We have to understand that solar is a new business in India and quarter-to-quarter analysis is not yet applicable for this business but net profit is comparable with H1 of last year.
Q: In the second half of the year what could be the expected sales for Ujaas Energy?
A: I cannot give a number at this point because we are also eagerly waiting for the order of CERC, but we can be close to last year.
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