Renewable growth grounded in the buyer's cash

I am the chief financial officer of Tejovan Renewables Limited, a fictional New Delhi-based renewable power producer listed on the NSE and BSE since March 2022. We own and operate 4.2 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, and we are building another 1.6 gigawatts, including a 600-megawatt wind-solar hybrid. In the year to March 2026 our plants generated 9.4 billion units of electricity, and we earned revenue of ₹3,640 crore and EBITDA of ₹3,120 crore. Almost all of it is sold under long-term agreements at tariffs fixed in rupees for twenty-five years.

Those agreements are the reason lenders will finance us at all, and the reason I spend so much of my time on the organisations that signed them. Fifty-eight per cent of our capacity sells to central government intermediaries that resell power to state utilities, thirty-one per cent sells directly to state distribution companies under older contracts, and the rest goes to industrial customers. I learnt to read those counterparties first as a credit analyst at an infrastructure lender in Mumbai, then while raising debt for a coal plant that later struggled, and then as finance head of a wind developer whose largest customer paid eleven months late.

When I became CFO in April 2021, receivables were climbing towards 238 days of revenue, and within a year two state utilities owed us ₹1,710 crore of overdue bills. Bringing that figure down, without pretending in our accounts that unpaid surcharge was income, has shaped my view of the job. A renewable company sells a fixed price for a quarter of a century. Finance exists to make sure that price is collected, that the debt behind each plant can survive a slow payer, and that the board sees the difference between megawatts commissioned and cash earned.

Current focus

I am preparing the board's decision on financing our 600-megawatt hybrid project, including how much of its construction debt should move into a second green bond after a year of operation. I am also rebuilding our counterparty scorecard so that each state utility's payment record since 2022, not its published rating alone, decides how much new exposure we take.

Conversations I welcome

I am not looking to leave Tejovan. With my board's consent, I would consider one independent directorship at a listed company outside power generation, where long-dated contracts and heavy borrowing make the Audit Committee's work demanding. I can give about twenty-five days a year. I also speak occasionally to lenders, rating analysts and audit committees on utility credit and project finance.