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Three neighbouring countries – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal – present substantial opportunities for Indian companies in the renewable energy space due to renewable project pipelines of up to 1 GW each. These countries are also likely to add 10 GW put together over the next 10 years.
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka together plan to add 8 GW of renewable power capacity by 2030 while Nepal aims to increase its share of renewable power from 5 per cent to 15 per cent in the same period.
As a result, there will be substantial opportunities in wind, utility-scale and rooftop solar power markets, according to a report by renewable energy consulting firm Bridge to India.
Business opportunity
All three countries have set ambitious renewable power targets due to the limited scope for expansion in their thermal or hydropower capacities and also due to dominant sources of power.
The three nations have limited manufacturing capacity and local players often lack technical and financing expertise for project development. Therefore, these regions present attractive business opportunities for Indian project developers, contractors and equipment suppliers across different market segments.
A number of Indian companies are already active in these countries across the value chain – project development, EPC and equipment supply. They include Shapoorji Pallonji, Hero Future Energies, Premier Solar, Tata Power, Waaree supplies, among others, said the report
Energy size
The current installed solar capacity is estimated at 500 MW and 451 MW in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, respectively. Wind market potential is limited to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka with a current installed capacity of 3 MW and 179 MW, respectively.
In Sri Lanka, small hydropower (projects smaller than 10 MW) dominates the renewable sector with a 41 per cent share. Solar power capacity is skewed towards rooftop systems which account for a 28 per cent share. As of April 2021, 367 MW of rooftop solar capacity had been installed across net metering (121 MW), net feed-in (114 MW) and gross metering (132 MW) routes. Ground-mounted solar and wind capacity is estimated at 84 MW and 179 MW, respectively.
Nepal had 1.8 million off-grid home solar systems installed (total estimated capacity of 40-50 MW) as of the end of 2018. Four utility-scale solar power projects with an aggregate capacity of 20 MW have been commissioned with financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank. The country has recently started giving approvals for more utility-scale solar power projects.
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