MC Exclusive | ReNew to take up green hydrogen projects in India first, overseas plans may have to wait: Sumant Sinha

Sumant Sinha, Chairman & CEO, ReNew

After scouting locations overseas for green hydrogen projects, Gurugram-based clean energy firm ReNew Energy Global (NASDAQ: RNW) will first focus solely on India for setting up green hydrogen and green ammonia production units, Sumant Sinha, founder, chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company told Moneycontrol.

“As far as green hydrogen is concerned, we are looking at developing projects in India. We were also looking at developing projects in one or two other locations outside of India, and Egypt happened to be one of them. However, when those (overseas) projects will actually come up, it depends on how the global market for green hydrogen develops. But it's not going to happen in the next one or two years. In the near term, our focus clearly is on India’s renewable energy story because that's enormously attractive right now,” Sinha said.

The company on November 15, 2022, signed a framework agreement with Egypt to set up a green hydrogen plant in the Suez Canal Economic Zone at an investment of $8 billion and a targeted annual production of 220,000 tonnes. This project is likely to be delayed with ReNew’s decision to focus on India for now.

In India, ReNew is part of GH4India Pvt Ltd, a joint venture with Indian Oil Corporation and infrastructure and engineering major Larsen & Toubro for green hydrogen projects. However, Sinha said the JV is meant to service projects in India alone, which is why ReNew on its own also plans to take up green hydrogen projects in the country. “Our aim is to develop projects in India to supply green hydrogen to customers outside India,” he said.

Sale of RE assets to continue in FY25

While the company has set up renewable energy (RE) assets of 10 GW so far, Sinha said ReNew has won another 6 GW of projects, and the power purchase agreements for these will be signed shortly.

Asked about funds for the Indian opportunities ReNew plans to exploit, Sinha said the company will continue to look at selling its renewable assets on a selective basis as it did in FY24. “We sold 400 MW of solar projects in FY24 and we also did some joint ventures where we got people to come into some of our other projects on a minority basis. So we'll look to carry on doing both this year as well,” he said.

In India, Sinha said raising capital is much easier now because the market is quite bullish. “India is one of the most attractive markets in the world. As far as we are concerned, we are one of the largest players right now with 10 percent of India’s total RE generating capacity. So for us as a company, with the kind of track record that we now have, raising capital is not a problem in India,” he said.

ReNew aims to double its RE asset portfolio to 20 GW by 2027-28. The company has India’s largest wind portfolio of 4.7 GW, representing 10.5 percent of India’s total wind energy capacity.