Incentives For Emerging Technologies like EVs, Green Hydrogen Must Be Considered

Headquartered in Jaipur, EPC firm Vareyn Solar has so far completed over 9 MW of turnkey solar projects and more than 16 MW of O&M projects. It has also liaisoned with the government on projects exceeding 17 MW of capacity. Ishan Chaturvedi, Co Founder & Director, Vareyn Solar speaks to Saur Energy International about how year 2022 was like for the firm, what the road ahead is about and prevailing industry trends. 

How do you assess the year gone by for the solar power industry of India and how do you see 2023 from your business point of view?

2022 was a great year for us and the solar industry as well. We were fortunate to do some great projects. This includes the 300 kW rooftop solar PV project at GD Goenka Signature School in Gurugram, Haryana and some off-grid projects like SD college in Muzaffarnagar. In 2023, there is going to be increased demand for off-grid systems, these are stand-alone systems. For the solar industry, we see a lot of new manufacturers coming in and the availability of the material will increase. We have seen 700W+ indigenous manufactured panels being available commercially. With technology advent and the larger acceptance and manufacturing of Mono-Pol in India, the prices will stay the same but the availability of equipment will become easier.

​You have dealt mostly with rooftop solar. How do you evaluate the liberalisation of rooftop solar installation for customers where they can employ the vendor of their choice? Has it helped the solar rooftop expansion or is there a catch in the scheme of things?

This has helped the industry because many installers wanted to do good work but were limited because of not having some kind of empanelment or agreement with certain state agencies so they could not work. But now, they have these options and they can provide that quality to their customers. So there is improvement in terms of project quality.

What policy support do you seek from the Government apart from the existing ones for the rooftop segment?

One of the key expectations is more attention to solar financing. Currently, there is a major lack of green finance available to the Indian sub-continent as compared to some of the European countries and the South East Asian countries. The industry is expecting provisions for financial reliefs like loans, subsidies etc.

The segment that is in news in the solar industry right now is the retail sector. The provision begins at  INR 50 lakh rupees so smaller residential or commercial projects do not get adequate financial help without collateral. Therefore investment in this could help widespread acceptance of solar technology.

In addition to this, technology-based incentives for emerging technologies like EVs, and Green Hydrogen also need to be considered. These businesses are currently in the nascent stage and financial provisions will help these sectors grow.

The solar expansion has opened up a vast O&M segment in the sector. How do you strategize your business for this?

We already have an O&M segment in our firm. We are constantly expanding the same. We offer premium O&M services to our customers which include end-to-end solutions wherein if the panel is broken by a third party or damaged by a stone etc we provide services to replace that without any cost to the customer. This is one of our USPs.

How do you see the turnkey solar services landscape changing in India? How do your services stand out from others?

We see the turnkey solar services landscape changing in India. Until 2022, many companies did not focus on after-sale services of the solar plant. Today’s customer, however, has higher awareness levels and wants to work with companies that provide after-sale services and has inbuilt O&M contracts. In cognizance of this fact, Vareyn Solar has also started providing O&M services, through which customers can opt for a five-year contract at once.

You claim that your client satisfaction is 99% which sounds great. How do you come to this figure?

Our projects with our clients and ongoing partnerships with them is a true testament of the work we do. We take testimonials from our clients, we work with them and most of our clients have O&M contracts with us also. This reflects their trust in us and our services. We believe in building long-term relations.

Which new areas would you enter this year? What quantum of business do you seek from here onwards?

We have already entered into a new vertical, that is, distribution of panels and inverters. The management of Vareyn Solar plans to get into the project lifecycle of solar and start working towards the availability of solar equipment for their audience. Good quality at a good price is what we are aiming for. The quantum of business we seek is 5-10 MW.

Any plans to enter into manufacturing in near future?

Currently, we are building our existing verticals and we haven’t yet thought about entering manufacturing.