SolarQuarter magazine got a fantastic opportunity to interview Parag Sharma – Founder and CEO, of O2 Power Pvt. Ltd, and learned about the recent key developments at the company and the company’s technology and solar+storage focus. He also shared insights on the solar market outlook for the year.
How has the year 2022 been so far at O2 Power? What have been some key developments?
O2 Power has signed PPAs of about 2 GW and has commissioned a 400 MW (approx) solar project. In the current financial year (FY 22-23), we plan to commission about 1 GW of power plants. As of today in the year 2022, we have not only commissioned our first 250 MW SECI project but have also completed the acquisition of a 55 MW project. As a strategy, we have started focusing on the Open Access market and are developing more than 500 MW of projects across three states, namely Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Himachal Pradesh. Besides winning bids and getting into Open Access projects, O2 is aggressively investing in building pipelines — we have blocked 800 MW of connectivity and significant land at the CTU level. This will help us monetize the interstate opportunity in the C&I segment.
How has technology contributed to O2 Power’s growth?
O2 is one of the first solar developers in India which has used bi-facial modules on a large scale. In our recently commissioned project, we have used 335 MWp of bifacial modules. Further, in all our upcoming projects, we will be using higher wattage bifacial modules as well as the latest model of wind turbines. We have also set up an advanced Central Monitoring Substation that connects all our projects, enabling us to monitor their performance at the HQ level.
How has the focus on solar+storage been at your company?
Storage is one of our primary focus areas. O2 has recently collaborated with Powin, a US-based battery energy storage firm, to offer storage solutions. We have also submitted multiple proposals in the C&I segment with RTC solutions. Additionally, we are very keen to participate in SECI’s storage bids or any such bids at the Central or State level.
What is your outlook on the solar market for FY 2022-23?
We see good capacity addition in the first quarter of FY22-23 as many developers have purchased modules by Mar 22 in lieu of BCD on modules starting 1st April 22. But post the first quarter, if the prices of modules remain at the current levels, I see limited procurement of modules by developers. The industry will wait for module prices to come down before adding any additional capacity. Similarly, the pending GIB judgement is also delaying projects — we hope that Supreme Court will address the issue soon. Hence, FY22-23 might not see much capacity addition post the first quarter.
Please tell us about how you are planning for further growth and expansion and what are the milestones you are aiming at for 2022?
As mentioned above, we plan to add about 1 GW of capacity in FY222-23, although there might be some delay in one of our projects on account of the GIB issue.
