Corrected: Engie looks to expand India presence with renewable and battery development
CORRECTED-Engie looks to expand India presence with renewable and battery development Corrects development plans in the 5th bullet
to include reference to wind and batteriesPARIS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - French utility Engie ENGIE.PA views India as a key investment location for renewables and battery storage following market reforms there, its country manager Amit Jain said on Thursday.
Engie is well positioned to grow in India following changes in the market there, including the opening of a power exchange and the authorisation of hedging instead of just physical delivery
"With the market changing now, there's a place for Engie to really scale up and that's what we're planning as we go in the future," Jain said in a media call
Engie just finished developing 450 megawatts of solar capacity in India, split across two projects
The company currently has 2 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity in operation or under development in India, and plans to expand that capacity to 7 GW by 2030, including battery storage
India plans to develop 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030 and is seeking $220 billion in clean energy investment over the next three years
"There is a lot of growth that is happening, a lot of opportunity. Land is not a constraint... at the moment," Jain said
India has run into issues in recent years with mass development of renewable supply constrained by transmission infrastructure leading to power curtailments
Jain said curtailment comes from a mismatch between the development times of renewable energy and transmission infrastructure, but expects it to be a short-term issue
(Reporting by Forrest Crellin; Editing by Susan Fenton)
((Forrest.Crellin@thomsonreuters.com;))