Tata Power Solar, India’s largest integrated solar company, announced that the company has witnessed an increase in its net sales by 52% to touch a new height of Rs. 2262 crore in FY17 as compared to Rs. 1490 crore in FY16. The company increased its revenue by more than two and a half times in just two years. The profit after tax also increased by 330% during FY17, a remarkable achievement considering the fact that solar EPC is extremely low margin and the pressures faced by the domestic manufacturing sector.
A key strategy that drove this change was shifting from product focus to service focus (EPC). Up until 2012-13, Tata Power Solar core business was manufacturing with a sizable focus on lighting products and some share of thermal products. Subsequently the company significantly increased focus on EPC, where it had built strong competencies, in a short span of time. The Company became a strong contender in the utility as well as rooftop space and today Tata Power Solar is the leader in EPC for large utility projects. It has also been the biggest rooftop player for 4 years in a row.
Tata Power Solar, in-line with Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, made significant expansion and modernization of its cell and module facility in Bengaluru. The second expansion within 2 years doubled the company’s module capacity to 400MW, and increased its cell manufacturing capacity to 300MW. The efficiency level of the cells and modules coming out of these lines are among the best in the world.
By bringing together the core strengths in domestic manufacturing from over the last 27 years and EPC services, Tata Power Solar commissioned many major projects in 2016-17, including a 100MW plant under DCR in Andhra Pradesh for NTPC and carry forward a healthy pipeline as EPC for utility scale projects for multinationals as well as central PSU’s.
The last financial year saw robust activity in the rooftop segment across all categories especially in institutional & commercial and industrial. The company has commissioned more than 150MW of rooftop projects till date. The focus on efficiency and quality coupled with leveraging technology and innovation has helped the company to implement some challenging projects.
A noteworthy project was the 12 MW solar rooftop project for R.S.S.B. Educational & Environmental Society, which is world’s largest rooftop project at a single location. Yet another differentiated project Tata Power Solar has executed is of 2.68 MW project at Cochin International Airport, which is the largest carport project in India.
Commenting on the achievement, Mr Anil Sardana, CEO & MD, Tata Power said, “Tata Power Solar has a robust business and has demonstrated excellent performance & reported a significant jump in profits. These has led to the company making a considerable amount of net profit in FY17. We are happy that the company has turned profitable within a short span, which is a remarkable achievement. Clean Energy continues to be our key focus whether it is generation or manufacturing business. With a strong pipeline due to enhanced business volumes and efficient operational performance, we are set to achieve the ultimate objective of being the largest integrated player”.
