Juniper Green Energy Limited (JNPR) Q1 2027 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q1 and FI27 earning conference call of Juniper Green Energy Ltd. As a reminder, all participant line will be in the lesson only more and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Kareena, Jen, from AdFactors PR. Thank you, and over to you, Kareena.

Yes, thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on Juniper Green Energy's Earnings Conference Court for the first quarter ended 30 June, 2026. Today, we have with us Mr. Ankush Malik, whole-time director and chief executive officer, Mr. Parag Agrawal, whole-time director and chief financial officer, and we have Mr. Bajram Nal Bhura, general manager, investor relations. We will begin the call with the opening remarks by Mr. Ankush Malik on the business operations, key initiatives, and broad outlook, followed by the discussion on the financial performance by Mr. Parag Akarwal, after which the management will open the forum for the Q&A session. Before we get started, I would like to point out that some statements made on today's call may be forward-looking in nature and must be viewed in conjunction with the risks and the uncertainties that we face. A detailed statement and explanation of these risks is included in the earnings presentation, which has been shared earlier with you all. The company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements publicly. I would like to invite Mr. Ankush Malik to make his opening remarks. Over to you, sir.

Thanks. Thanks, Ravijan. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our Q1 FY27 earnings call. As you know, this is our first as a listed company. On behalf of the team, I would want to start by thanking our shareholders and new investors for the trust you have placed in us. Our IPO, through which we raised 1,800 crores, was a significant milestone, and we are grateful for the confidence that you have shown in our long-term strategy. Before I turn to our company performance, I'll just touch upon the broader sector. Power demand across the sector has remained strong, especially aided by the El Nino effect this year. It has translated into sustained peak demand pressure on the grid, and renewable capacity, particularly firm and dispatchable formats like the one we specialize in, continues to play an increasingly central role in meeting this gap. India's installed renewable power generation capacity now stands at close to 290 gigawatts, reflecting the continued pace of capacity addition across the industry, and the broader policy and regulatory environment remains constructive for developers like us. Against that backdrop, we believe Juniper is well-positioned to keep on capturing an outside share of the demand growth, given the scale and technology mix of our portfolio. Coming to our performance, I would want to highlight that this has been a milestone quarter for us. The first set of results we are presenting to you as a listed company, we have delivered our highest ever quarterly revenue in EBITDA and the highest ever renewable capacity that we have commissioned in a single quarter. On the operating side, our fleet-wide CUS for Q1 FY27 came in at 30.2%, up from 28.2% in the same quarter last year. The generation has grown by 72% to 944 million units. Within that, our wind portfolio with a capacity of 190 megawatts delivered a weighted average CO of 49.9%. Plant availability stood at 98.8% and grid availability at 99.6%. On execution, we commissioned 601 megawatt peak in the quarter alone, 458 megawatt peak of solar, and 143 megawatts of wind, our highest ever quarterly commissioning. It also, there's an additional 400 megawatt hours of battery that we commissioned. Taking the broader window from April to date, we have now commissioned more than 760 megawatts of renewable capacity and roughly 400 megawatt hours of battery across eight sites. And I want to specifically mention that during this quarter, we commissioned India's first FDRE project under the SJV and FDRE tender, a genuine first for the country, and a proof point for the model we have built our growth around. On the generation side, we are now further targeting another 250 to 300 megawatts of capacity this quarter, and overall 2 gigawatts for the full year. We remain firmly on track to deliver against this guidance. Connectivity, land, and financing for this pipeline are largely tied up, and execution is progressing well across sites. We'll continue to keep you updated on our progress each quarter as these projects move towards commissioning. On the best side, we have commissioned approximately, as we mentioned, 400 megawatts in this quarter. However, we have placed additional orders for another 4 gigawatt hours of capacity and remain on track for a target of approximately 4.5 gigawatt hours of installed capacity by June 27 and 10 gigawatt hours by March 28. Our best assets continue to perform well with a round-trip efficiency of approximately 91% and a state of health of around 99.6%, reflecting the quality best operations capability. Since the end of the quarter, we have also added meaningfully to our pipeline. We won two new tenders, the SECI Firm and Dispatch Renewable Energy Round-the-Clock Tender for a planned 870 MW and 2200 MW are the best against a 230 MW contracted capacity at a tariff of 526. We have already received the letter of award for this capacity. This, the thermal mimic construct against which this tender has been designed, is actually designed to replicate a thermal plant's round-the-clock output profile through solar, wind, and storage, working in tandem at a tariff meaningfully lower, below the thermal power cost. We also won a 50-megawatt wind project from GUVNL at INR 3.51 per unit. I'm also happy to share that we've signed a 50-megawatt PPA with SJVN under our FDRE portfolio at a tariff of 425. Put together, as on date, our total portfolio now stands at close to 11,200 megawatts of capacity, plus nearly 9 gigawatt hours of this, with FDRE and wind-solar hybrid projects making up 84% of our portfolio, and a blended weighted average tariff of INR 3.7. Out of this portfolio, our operational plus PPA-signed capacity stands more than 6.2 gigawatt. On the ground, we continue to build a resource base to execute at scale. We have surplus connectivity of more than 4.5 gigawatts over and above our entire pipeline, and now have further connectivity available for installation of more than 20 gigawatts as our best for future bids. Over 14,000 acres of land banked for our under-construction and awarded pipeline, and more than 200 identified wind locations for wind turbine installation. Our in-house EPC team is running end-to-end, parallel execution across multiple sites and states at both STU and CTO levels, which continues to be one of our core differentiators. Finally, on the portfolio quality, 98% of our contracted capacity is with off-takers rated A and above, and 98% of our portfolio is secured through long-term PPAs, typically running for 25 years. The combination of credit quality and contract tenure is really the foundation on which our number sits. Further, I am pleased to report our day's receivable outstanding stood at a tight 19 days as on June 30, among the lowest in the sector, a reflection of the strength of our off-takers. With that, let me hand it over to Parag to take you through the financials in detail.

Thank you, Ankhush, and good morning, everyone. As Ankhush mentioned, this was a record quarter financially for us. Total income for Q1FI27 grew to INR 324 crore, which is 79% year-on-year increase from the last year number of 181 crore. Our EBITDA also grew 86% year-on-year to 294 crore rupees versus 159 crore last year. And this takes to our EBITDA margin to 91% and improvement of roughly 300 basis points year-on-year. Looking at operating performance specifically, operating income was 291 crore, up 81% year-on-year. And operating EBITDA was INR 261 crore, up 89% year-on-year, with the operating EBITDA margin of 90%, which is 400% basis increase year-on-year. Profit after tax came at INR 33 crore, up 54% year-on-year. Gas PAD, which is PAD plus depreciation, was INR 108 crore, up 50% year-on-year. And our days received outstanding stood at 19 days, as on June 30th, 2026. Our total net debt outstanding as on 30th June is 11,217 crore, part of which net debt for the operating projects is 7,183 crore. During this period, we have completed the refinancing of more than 1,700 crore projects for the three projects at a weighted average interest rate of less than 8%. With that, our now weighted average cost of debt for the operational portfolio is around 8.5%. Our net worth as on 30th June was 3,463 crore. With that, our net debt to equity is 3.24x as on 30th June. That, of course, was before the IPO. We have raised 1,800 crore primary through the IPO, with that our now net worth has increased to 5,200 crore, which has meaningfully strengthened our balance sheet. To summarize, a record quarter on revenue, EBITDA, and margin, a portfolio that grown to over 11 GW, as on date with 84% of it is in FDRE and hybrid format, a strengthened balance sheet post IPO, and a good off take audit profile gave a lot of confidence to us. With that, we will now be happy to take your questions.

Thank you so much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on their touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question.

Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Puneet with HSBC Securities. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you so much, and congratulations on your first quarter. Indeed, a good start. My first question is to speak to your plan for 2,000 megawatt of capacity for FI27. The first quarter definitely is promising. Do you see any risk on account of delays in transmission coming in which can hurt your plan for 2,000 megawatt?

So, Puneet, we have already now commissioned more than 760 megawatts, right? There is the balance 300 that we're looking at in this quarter that is 5 million STUs, right? Project which is almost completed. So, there is no grid issue there. Yes. The balance, one gigawatt, again, the capacity that we have taken, the substations are largely there, right? So they are on CTU, but the majority of the capacity is on a substation, which is already operational. There is another substation where there is around 300 megawatts of capacity. That substation is, again, operational. The overall system, that is under completion, but should get done by December. So, mostly, we don't see any major risk on this 2V1 because of a slippage on the grid. So, I think that should not be a major issue.

And secondly, as a strategy, while substation may be ready, the whole grid may not be ready. Would you be open to setting it up under the TGNA route, or would you like to wait for a full GNA?

No, so, yeah, so, Puneet, so, see, I think everyone understands how this is working, right? So, you understand most of our projects are FDRE. Now, essentially what we are doing is our evacuation infrastructure is, from our side, is largely built for almost all our projects which are there. We keep on doing work on ground on the renewable capacity where we work on the civil, we get the boundary work done, we do the piling. What we leave aside is the structure and the module part. This is a significant cost. That, so say there is a substation, I think what we're then doing is we'll get the batteries in. As we mentioned, we will be, we should be at around four and a half, four and a half gigawatt hours by June, right? And what we can do is basically, if there is a delay, right, on the transmission system further, right, the batteries will come in, right? And they are right now at a sweet spot, right, in terms of the tariff that are available, right? And the arbitrage that is available, run it probably for a while on merchant, and then get the renewable capacity in. So, that's how we are looking at it. So, in terms of TGNA, what we will do, if the TGNA, if we have to commission something on TGNA, it will largely be batteries, or to a certain extent, there is another strategy which we will look at where we only commission renewable to the extent that it can be absorbed in the battery, right? But given the fact that the government has now given a clear letter where they said we can sell it on merchandise, I think mostly we'll try to follow where we'll run the merchant capacity, and then as and when the DNA comes in, we'll be ready to put up the renewable capacity. But we'll get the infrastructure and all the other things ready, right? It will then largely be just the structure and the module that gets installed.

Interesting. That's very clear. Secondly, also, can you define what is a CapEx plan? So, you might spend more than what is needed for 2000 if you can quantify that plan.

So, as on 30th June, our total capex is around 16,000 crore. If we will say by the March 27th, this amount will increase to around 22,000 crore, which includes the capacity of around 3,900, which is getting commissioned by March 27th, and CWIF for the capacity which will be coming in the subsequent quarters.

Understood. And lastly, if you can also talk about your experience of, you know, any curtailment during the quarter and how much it would have impacted your revenue.

Right. So, to me, the curtailment is largely restricted to that TGNA capacity, right? So, we have a small capacity which is running on TGNA. This is in Bikaner, the 15-year-old merchant plant. I think the benefit, again, what we have been able to do, we had a 100-megawatt-hour battery there, right? So, we've largely been able to control that. But what we are then doing fully to eliminate any of those issues is we are basically now doubling up on that capacity. So, this 100-megawatt-hour will double to 200 in a month's time. So, the batteries are already getting installed. They are at site. So, then there won't be any curtailment on this capacity. There is some capacity of the FBRE that is commissioned, which is on PG&A. There again, we already have 400 megawatt hours of battery, right? And there is another further addition that will probably get completed by October. So, I think what we have tried to do on curtailment, which is largely restricted to this TGNA, right? Because on the GNA side, there isn't any curtailment, right? So, is to manage it. So, one is to let the things be, but we have been proactive in terms of, And the benefit we have is because we can put up these batteries for longer term for future, right? We have proactively then moved faster to get these batteries in. And of course, the benefit has been, the other benefit has been that because of how the tariffs have been in the nighttime, right? We have been then able to benefit out of that as well. So that's the combination that we have fallen.

So basically, the 27.9% PLF that you experienced for, you know, 1Q was unimpacted by any fulfillment. So, that's a steady number we should consider. Okay.

So, it will be, okay, so it's around 2%, right? So, 2% to 2.5% is the curtailment that is there. And that is on this 50 megawatt capacity that we mentioned, right, which is in BKANET. So, most of it is getting, most of it is flowing either through the grid directly or getting stored in the battery, merchant battery. I think it will get fully eliminated with the battery that will get installed, the 100 megawatt hour that will get installed in the coming month.

Thank you so much and all the rest.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, anyone who wishes to ask a question, press star and one. Our next question comes from the line of Mohit Kumar with ICICI Securities. Please, please go ahead.

Hi. Good afternoon, sir. And my first question is on the, is it possible for you to help us with the net EBITDA for the capacity which got commissioned at the end of March 26th and at the end of June 26th? That will be helpful, yeah.

Yeah, so I think just, I'll get the numbers for the March and June.

On the 2575 megawatt that is commissioned as on date, our run rate of IDA is 1620. For the March 26th capacity, this number was 1050.

Understood. So, I'm going to ask you a question on the, of course, the RTC Nimic, which I've run. And the large and tired capacity, I think, is probably as similar to the having more than the capacity of commission where the – sorry, my bad, I was very fair. So our total DPA portfolio is roughly 6 gigawatt peak, right? And our LOA portfolio is roughly around 5 gigawatt peak now, right? Can you help us with your expectation of ALOA to PPA conversion in the next few months? Right.

So, I think what we are seeing is a lot of traction for peak power, right? Because a lot of states are struggling, right? As you mentioned, I think there is such a major gap in terms of peak power. And again, with a lot of FBRE projects that the other PPAs have happened, right? Not a lot have come up. The fact that a lot of best capacity which was bidded out has also not come up, right? So, we're still finding traction and also from our procurers where we have commissioned this FDRE, right? So, they believe that given that we have delivered, at least that benefit is then with us. In terms of capacity that we're looking at in conversion, right? So, I think we signed a PPA, a 50-megawatt PPA yesterday with SJDN. This is on the FDRE. Now we have another 550 megawatts of FDRE capacity, which is remaining. We are in advance discussions on 350 megawatts of FDRE capacity for that, wherein the procurers have confirmed that they have a buyer. Of course, we'll confirm as and when it gets signed, right, and we'll, of course, let the markets know. So that is the capacity we're looking at. We are also in discussions for one of the hybrid projects, right? That is, again, in very, very advanced discussion, which is, again, a 150 megawatt contracted capacity, right? So, 350 megawatt of contracted plus 150. I think the other thing that is very, very hopeful in terms of getting done very, very fast is the thermal mimic, right? So, the thermal mimic, as I think you would have seen or you would have read statements, So, we have been informed, I think, privately or by Citi that I think it's a tariff which is pretty attractive, right, given where the thermal tariff sit at and how this tender actually replicates thermal, right. So, we believe that capacity, which is close to, and which is a pretty big capacity of 1 gigawatt peak plus 2.2 gigawatt hours, right, is something that should come in fast, right. So, overall, I think if you combine everything, this will be almost more than 2 gigawatt of peak capacity, plus around 4 gigawatt hours of base capacity. That is something that we are looking at doing in the next few months.

My next question will be, given the fact that the government of India has now asked Sikhi to only conduct the bid post-aggregating the demand, should it lead to a higher conversion from LOA to PPA for the bids which are happening right now? Is that a good understanding?

I think, yes, it works. I think, of course, time will tell, but it can work both ways. So, I think the hopeful, the good part of it is then there is no, there are no competing entities, right? I think what has happened in the past is there are tenders and similar tenders, right, have happened. And tariffs, different tariffs have been discovered just because how the auction process goes on, right? There are a lot of unsubscribed, not fully subscribed tenders, right? Some will close at 340, some will close at 330, right? What would happen then is with four entities going to the distribution entity, right, and if, say, one goes in, they find interest, then the other will go in. I think that confusion would definitely move out, right? So we see that benefit coming through from having a single entity. So I think given that, I think especially the conversion from an LOA to a PPA should be more focused. I think there will be less shopping from the discount side. But in terms of, okay, the number of tenders that can happen, probably there will be a limitation vis-a-vis what would happen with, say, four guys tendering, right? But the fact is that if it will lead to a more better LOA to PPA conversion, then it's as such more beneficial, right, for everyone.

One clarification, let's say for this particular bid, which the RTC may be, is it right to think that the SEC has already spoken to a lot of states, and they are in agreement, and that's why the bid has floated and the demand is mostly tied up? Is that right understanding, or the SEC is doing the bid and then trying to find out the procurer?

No. Right. I think, again, this is an informal discussion with Secchi whenever I think a lot of guys have gone when the bid was underway, right, or they were tender discussions, right? I think it was a very, very unique tender, and Secchi had probably discussed with a lot of distribution companies on what they want, right? And I think they had tariff expectations as well. And we believe the tariffs that have come out are well within the tariff expectations that were there from these discounts, right? So, again, I think we believe that SECI has had discussions, right? Of course, we cannot confirm because until the PP happens, we don't have any proof, right? But we believe that discussion has happened. SECI, of course, knowing what has happened previously, right, now, again, wants to be doubly sure, right? So I think those discussions have happened. And I think generally, right, if you look at how this tender is structured, right, it is because there have been a lot of changes to make it actually work like a thermal project, right, where I think there have been last minute changes where the CUFs, we were asked that to reduce the CUF to 60, less than 60% during the daytime, because that's what thermal guys are also asked to, right. Now, given that and the tariff that has come in, right, and the tariff for new thermal tenders, we believe there will be a lot of interest, and that's probably what Secchi also believes.

I'm just going to thank you all the best. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Saurabh Arya with Oakland Capital. Please go ahead.

Yeah, so my first question is, can you talk about, let's say, from whom you are buying this BES, and currently, like, these are the confirmed place orders, and at what prices it's happening?

Right. Yes, Saurabh. So, in terms of best, right, I think what we have done is slightly different from how right now the industry is working. I think what we have done, we are largely looking at a fully integrated solution, right? So if you look at BESS happening in the West or outside India, largely it happens to an integrator where the integrator gets the, and this could be the ultimate OEM as well, right, who gets the full solution, which is the container, the EMS, and the PCS fully integrated and provides it as a full solution, right? Now, in India, largely, what has happened is the container is coming off separately, PCS is being procured directly by the IPP, and then there is an EMS provider which is doing the integration. What we have done is slightly different. So, we have gone the other way. We have gone the way how it's happening globally. We will, of course, keep on looking at this solution as well as we grow, right, and gain more confidence in how this thing works. What we have done is we are getting the PCS, the EMS, and the battery container from a single entity who provides this as a fully integrated single solution. They deliver it to our site. We basically install it under their supervision. They commission it, and then we have an LTSA, which not only covers the warranties, but the O&M for this entire thing for 15 years, right? Or 15 to 20 years, depending upon the life of the battery, right? So, for a double cycle, two cycle battery, we get a 15-year life. For a single cycle battery, it goes to 20 years, right? So, we have a flexible throughput warranty. Now, what we have done, there are limited players for this kind of a thing in India. So, there is Envision, right, which has AESC as the, they own AESC, which is one of the best cell manufacturers. There is SunGro, which is again a full-scale integrator, world's largest integrator. They used to be Fluence, right, which Fluence has now left the market. We are, of course, talking to CATL and others as well in terms of they can provide a full solution. So what we have done is we basically come out with a, when we have first contracted our batteries, we came out with a tender. We got these guys in, right, and in that case, the first guy we worked with was InVision, right. Now, what we have done is the full 4.5 gigawatt hours that we have mentioned, this entire capacity is all the contracts assigned, right? So, they are firm contracts. It's fully from Envision. So, Envision gets the containers, right? And these are AESC sales Envision containers. They get the PCS, and they do the integration. The integration happens through another company that they own, which is called Universe. This is, again, one of the largest, world's largest data analytics company on the Google site, right? So, they do the image. So, yeah, so this entire 4.5 gigawatt hours has come from InVision. In terms of pricing, right, I think what we were able to do, and that is why we believe a relationship is very, very important here, right? So, we closed more than, you know, close to 2 to 2.5 or 3 gigawatt hours somewhere in January of 26. That was done at a container price, which was around $59 to $60. Now, that price on the containers has gone up over the last four, five months. So, this number had gone up to $68 to $70, primarily because of the lithium carbonate price. This number, the lithium carbonate has cooled down. This number today will be between, I think, $65 to $68. So, majority of the batteries, so two, two and a half gigawatt hours of batteries that we secured, the container price is around $58 to $60. This is just the container price. The all-in price comes to, which is the BOS plus the tax and duty, comes to around $100. I think there are some batteries that we have closed a couple of months back. Those are at around $68. So, the overall pricing goes to around 110. So, that's the number that shows these batteries.

Sure, this is quite helpful. Second is, let's say a little elaborate on within these FDRE tenders, like we come across different strategies, high wind, low wind, or maybe, you know, all best. So, what are the factors, you know, which matter to take this decision? Or it's a company-wise strategy which is different in taking this decision. So, if you could elaborate on that, because in our, let's say, presentation also, I see the first set of FDRE shows, you know, two hours on the, you know, contracted capacity, and then the best is two hours. The next one is showing four hours, and in future, you are building in six hours. So, and I also hear that, you know, recent thermodynamic requires wind. So, if you could elaborate on that, that would be really useful.

Right. Right. Right. So, see, yeah, so I think the dependence upon how much wind will come in also has been a combination of what the tenders are, but also on what the cost of batteries have been, right? I think we've been there on the FDRE right from the start, right? So, end of 2023 when we won our first tender, commissioned the first project, right? And now, at that point, so all our FDRE tenders till date, before the thermal mimic, were peak power tenders where we had to provide four hours of peak power, two hours in the evening, two hours in the morning, right? And we could use any combination. So, it was not just solar. If we can do solar wind, we can only do solar. We can do no batteries, right? Any combinations were allowed. And these were the initial tenders, right? So initially, when we started off, battery prices in 23, 24, or 23, right, were very, very high, so more than $300. So lastly, the mechanism that I think everyone then, I can be, I think, pretty sure that it's almost everyone, was that they will overbuild wind and solar, right, and try to provide the peak path through that rather than through any battery. There, of course, will be uncertainty, there will be penalties, but numbers are still working out, right? Now, essentially, what had happened as we built our first project, right, the first project that we built, the battery prices went down, right? So, came down to, the numbers that we are currently selling is around $100, came down to around $150, $160, right? Now, when that happened, what we did, we reduced the wind, right, to almost half. We kept solar as it is, and we increased the battery to almost one and a half times of the contracted capacity. The understanding being that we derisked the model, wherein the battery, what a 3x2 battery, which gets doubly charged, gets charged from solar during the day and discharges during the evening to peak hours, and then again charges from wind at night and discharges in the morning peak hours. Now, what has happened subsequently is, with the battery cost going down further and further, right? So, as we mentioned, we closed batteries at around $100. The benefit is that the solar plus battery, so when we moved from our first model to the solar plus wind plus battery model, we did not lose a lot in terms of returns, right? Because the battery cost had gone down. Now, subsequently, the play was, as battery costs further went down, right, to $100, just a plain solar plus battery solution, where what we did was, say, we reduced wind to almost, to very small capacity, we kept, we increased solar, and we doubled the battery capacity. What we are then looking at is a single-charge battery from solar, which is a C by 4 battery. It will discharge during four hours during the night, or two hours in the evening, two hours in the morning. But the other flexibility that can be there for the buyer is if they even want this four hours during the night or two hours during the night and two hours late night, we can provide that. We have moved across. So I think, just to tell you, or just to reinforce the fact, so what happens if a lot of it has to do with the cost of the solution, right? What is continuously happening is the battery costs have come down. Now, at a certain inflection point, the solar plus battery beats wind, right? Or at least matches the returns from wind. So, then what happens is, now, wind is, of course, more difficult to execute, right, vis-a-vis a solar plus battery solution. Wind, again, is a little, there are variations in terms of generation profiles, right. So, then what you do is, if the returns match, right, or are nearby, then you will do a solar plus battery solution, right.

But at current price, then, does solar plus battery is preferable, or at what price does this decision move?

Yeah, so as I mentioned, right, so when we were at $150, which is the first battery that we contracted, or even when it went to around $130, $140, this question was asked to us, and we said we are still going with the solar plus wind plus battery solution. Now the prices have come down, so the pricing is today, the one that we closed was $100 today, even if we look at the other number, it is at around $108, right? At that number, we believe a solar plus battery solution is as good as a solar plus wind plus battery solution, given the fact that solar plus battery is then easier to execute, right, while not losing out on the return that makes common projects, right. So that's the logic. Yeah.

Can I ask one question more?

So, yeah.

So, so that would be, sir, like in past, there was, whenever, you know, this thermal mimic order came, those are not getting signed, right? And I don't know whether you, you also have any of the, you know, tender one in that. So FDRE had, of course, two, three types and thermal mimic, the load following was finding it tough to, you know, get executed. So, one, you can give a notice on that. And second is, what is different this time that, you know, exact? Is the load-following profiles, what is coming in tenders, is now more flexible? That is why, you know, this time, you know, thermal mimic looks will be sent.

Right, right. So, see, there were, I think, a couple of tenders which were done by Secchi on the load following ones. I think the issue was those load following ones were very, very specific to a certain state, right, did not provide peak power throughout the night, right. Right. So what had happened was when the tariff was discovered and the tariffs were, I believe, in the range of around 550. Right. Or that number. Right. And there was only these couple of tenders that happened. Right. So there was an issue in terms of the expectation. Right. Now, I think the difference this time is the tender that is there, it is not about one state. It basically tries to match, in terms of flexibility as well, everything that, say, a thermal project would provide. Right. So, essentially, if overall the CUS for this plant, right, throughout the year would be around 75%, right? So, it takes away from the transmission charge point as well, right? So, if you're building this, right, project, and there is, with the waivers going away, right, for a distribution company looking at a thermal plant versus a new renewable plant for base load demand, there used to be an earlier issue on the transmission charge that will be there on a solar plant. or a renewable plant, right? Because the CUS will be only 30%. So, the transition charge, if there was no waivers, will double, right? Now, in this case, since the number is 75%, and a thermal plant would also be expected to run at 70% to 80%, so one is that transition charge waiver issue goes away, right? So, then we are not fighting for months on whether this project will come under a waiver or not under a waiver, right? Because the understanding is now very, very clear from the government. And we are now moving to a scenario where there are no subsidies, there is no waivers, and it's a pure play, right? So, I think that has changed. But in this tender, specifically, there is a lot more flexibility, right? So, we have to provide power all through the day. There is a 12-hour peak. I think the other thing that will also happen is, so when those peak power tenders happened, right, the earliest, all those issues around what has happened in this year, right, and for some reason, right, a lot of buyers, especially Discom, right, do generally look at what is happening currently to decide on what should we do, right. I think last year, the entire, even if you look at talk to analysts, the thing was that because of better monsoons, there was not a lot of pressure. Everyone thought that we are actually overbuilt, whether we should buy or not. I think those things are changing with what has happened this year. That's why I think even similar peak power tenders, and that's where a lot of traction should also come for this.

But do you have any note for any tender which you believe can be signed or not signed?

So, we don't have any... So, earlier what we had done was we were only participating in these peak power tenders, right? And so, we have whatever we have done, and I think most of the peak power tenders are if our contracts are signed. There are a couple of tenders, as we mentioned earlier in the call, right, close to signing. This is the first one that we looked at in terms of a thermal mimic tender, right? I think, again, when we are looking at, as we mentioned, right, the time at which those load-falling tenders happened, battery prices were probably not in the range that they are today to manage the solution for the entire 24 hours, right? Today, the battery prices or batteries have become at a certain level where we believe this kind of a profile can be managed pretty well with a solar plus battery kind of solution, adding some wind. I think wind will be added primarily to accentuate returns, right? So, that's how we're going to do it.

Perfect. This is pretty helpful. Thank you very much. All the best.

Thank you. Anyone who wishes to ask a question, by press star and one. Our next question comes from the line of Sudhanshu Bansal with JM Financial. Please go ahead.

Congratulations for the good set of numbers. My first question is for this thermal mimic order, like when is the grid connectivity available to us?

Grid connectivity available.

So, grid connectivity, we already have for this tender, so

grid

connectivity is already available, and this will be in Rajasthan.

Okay, so there is no constraint from that angle, and so when we can expect its COD to happen?

Yeah, once the PPA is signed, then accordingly, as per the timelines, we will be commissioning the project. So, we have the, as we mentioned, we have the around 4,500 MW surplus connectivity are already available. So, that we can plan accordingly as per the PPA requirement.

Other thing is, like, any changes you are seeing in the module prices because of this, the various developments which has happened in the last two to three months, and of the DCR prices and non-DCR prices, how much is generally going rate today for these modules?

So, see, we have closed module prices. I think the module pricing has been pretty low, right? Essentially because of two things, right? There was a glut in China and there was a glut in India as well, right? We have closed our modules at close to around 12.1 to 12.2 rupees per WP. These are, of course, non-DCR because we, for our current capacity, apart from the thermal mimic tender, right, all our capacity does not require any DCR, right? DCRs, of course, right now is something that we are not buying here. But on the non-DCR, we have closed at 12.1 to 12.2 rupees.

So, in the thermal memory, generally, how much we have considered the DCR module prices?

So, at around 17 rupees.

17 rupees, okay, fine. Just one thing is, like, can you give the guidance for FI, EBITDA guidance for FI27 or FI28, how much do you expect? Right.

So, in terms of, I think what we have guidance is on the run rate EBITDA, right? So, F528, we are looking at close to 6 gigawatt capacity being commissioned. The run rate EBITDA for that is close to 4,500 crores.

And for F527?

So, by FY27, again, we're looking at capacity, which will be close to 4 gigawatts, right? So, we add 2 gigawatts that we mentioned. The run rate EBITDA for that capacity sits at around 2,700 crores, 2,700 crores.

Okay, just last bookkeeping question about the FAT, like there's a change in the depreciation policy and other, so what are the one-offs of EBITDA onwards?

Right. So, as we mentioned that we have completed the refinancing of our three projects. So, there is around 18 crore one-time cost is the refinancing cost, which is coming in the PAT. That has impacted our PAT. If that has not been there, then PAT would have been increased to that amount adjusted for the tax on it.

And the depreciation, why we have changed the policy? What is the basis for that?

So the depreciation policy has been aligned. We have got this assessment done, and it has been aligned as being the market practice and being followed by others also. And we have got that estimate done, and accordingly, our depreciation policy has been aligned.

Okay, thank you so much, sir, and best of luck.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Manaswini Chatterjee with Oracle Investments. Please quit.

Hello. Hi, sir. I hope I'm audible. I wanted to ask a few questions. The first one being, following the IPO, does management intend to rationalize or, say, consolidate the current 56 subsidiaries? And then what is the roadmap for simplifying the corporate structure as more SPs become operational?

Can you repeat? Sorry, can you repeat? We did not get the question.

Yeah, sure. Now that the IPO is done, does the management by any chance intend to rationalize or say consolidate the current 56 subsidiaries? And then what will be the roadmap to simplify the corporate structure as like, I'm assuming more SPVs will become operational?

Right. So if you will see, we have a very simple, straightforward corporate structure where the company, the listed company is a holding company. As you know, it's the nature of our business. Whenever we go for any tender, we have to do these projects in a special SPV, doing these projects, signing the PPA, and for the financing also, it is ring-fenced to a particular SPV. So, that's the requirement of the business. Wherever you go for any new project or the connectivity and the PPA, it is generally done through the separate SPV structure so that you can sign the PPA or you can do the financing in the ring fence environment. So, this is the very typical structure for any infrastructure business.

Okay, that makes sense. My next question was that BES is becoming a much larger part of the portfolio now. So, with operational capacity already at about 503 megawatt hour and another 4,000 megawatt hour ordered, could you kind of help us understand the economics of these BES projects, particularly the expected returns or margins, the revenue model, and whether you see BES becoming like a meaningful contributor to your EBITDA, Over the next two, three years.

I think BES is very, very important, right? As you mentioned, we're looking at getting to four and a half gigawatt hours by June, right? And close to 10 by March 28th. I think essentially we'll not be able to differentiate between what kind of revenue is coming from BES because what we are doing on BES is not standalone batteries. What we are trying to do is include those in our renewable contracts, right? So, all our FDRE contracts or the Thermal Mimic Tender, right, has this BESS as an inbuilt, and we get a common tariff, right? So, very, very difficult to differentiate in terms of what revenue will come from BESS. It is largely a full solution that we are providing. I think in terms of returns, right, I think whenever we are looking at business projects, right, So because we were early starters on these FDRE tenders, we had returns which were significantly higher. But even for new tenders, we are looking at higher teams in terms of returns. That is on an overall basis. I think standalone best, if you're looking at, we are not doing a lot of standalone best because right now the numbers don't make a lot of sense to us. It is working in terms of a transmission element where I think the returns are pretty low. So we're not doing standalone. It largely will be BES as part of our overall power solution, right? That is how we're looking at those.

Okay. And within that, as we mentioned, there will be opportunity for the merchant BES, which we will be doing.

Okay, perfect. Perfect. That makes a lot of sense. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next question comes to the line of Dhruvind Shah with SDFC Securities. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Hi, sir. Just one question regarding the base, which is that what is the kind of capacity that we expect to operate on a merchant basis for EF527 and EF528 to do some guidance on that?

Right. So, Dhruv, in terms of the 4,500 megawatt, 4.5 gigawatt, right, that gets installed by June 27th, there is 1.5 gigawatt, which is actually right now not linked to a project that will come up in the next couple of years, right, even before future. So that will definitely run as merchant. Now, what will also keep on happening is, so the capacity that are getting done on coming up, so there is close to 700 megawatt hours, which is expected to add on to the 500, which is there right now by December of this year, right, in stages. That entire 700 would also run on merchant. Some of it will go off into a PPA by June, right? So, overall, what will happen is the 1.5 gigawatt will be running, say, for the next one to two or two years, right, fully as merchant. Then, of the other capacity, right, on and off, there will be a combination, so for 9 to 12 months, right, depending upon when the GNA kicks in, right, will run as merchant, right? So, 1.5 is firm capacity, which will run as merchant. I think there will be further capacities which will come in of the 4.5 and then from 4.5 to 10, which we start putting up in the following year, right, which will come in as merchant.

Thank you, sir. And just on the margin side, what kind of margins can we expect from the sale of this power?

Yes. Okay, so the margins this year have been pretty significant, right? And those margins have been because of two things, right? One is the daytime tariffs from which these batteries are getting charged, right? That itself has gone down, right? So when earlier, say, this number would be sitting at, say, last year, this number would be, or a year before that, this number would be sitting at 2.5 rupees. That number has gone down to 1 rupee or 1.3 rupees. I think in terms of the sale, of course, you have to close this full year. If you look at just 25 numbers, this average number used to be at around, full year number was around 8. But what we have looked at in this year, right, this year there's been sale on HP Dan, right? So the numbers may be higher, right? So the numbers, so we have sold a significant amount of power on the HP dam market as well, right, which where the limit is up till 20 rupees, right. So there has been power sold at that, at those levels as well. So we'll, of course, once the full year gets done, right, because there is, weather also plays a big role, right. But that number should be significantly higher on the sale part as well. I think in terms of the buying for charging, that number will be around one and a half rupees, one to one and a half, and the other number will be probably higher than what the earlier numbers were.

Understood, sir.

That is all I said. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Puneet from HSBC Securities.

Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks for the follow-up. My question is on the Thermal Mimic project. How should one think about operational challenges there?

Okay. So, Kameet, I think how we are structuring, right? I think in terms of operational challenges, we are largely looking at a solar plus battery solution adding wind. Wind is being added because if you look at the tariffs, right? The firmness in which how we have to provide power will come through the solar plus battery capacity, right? That, we believe, is not something which is very difficult to handle operationally, right? That's how we're looking at it.

And would there be some surplus power generation which you'll need to sell to grid or something that you'll need to buy from the grid?

I think there will be, okay, so in terms of what we're looking at, there will be some surplus during the day, right? Which will be, when we structure it, it would be close to, I think, around 1% or 2%, right, overall, right? That will be there, but otherwise, yeah, so how we are structured, we are not taking a call that we will have to buy power from outside, right? Because especially during peak hours, right, we cannot take a call that there, and it has to be renewable power as well, right? So essentially, we cannot take that call that we will buy something from outside.

Okay. So there will be surplus production, which is up to 2%, which you can sell to the grid, and the rest you should be able to manage on your own.

Yeah, but we are not considering anything, that anything will be realized from it.

Understood. That's great. Great.

Thank you so much and all the best. Thank you so much.

Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand the conference over to the management for the closing remarks.

Thank you and over to you, team.

Thank you so much, everyone, for coming in and hope we could answer all your questions. If anything, we have already shared our contact details with you guys. If you have any further queries, you can reach out to us.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Juniper Green Energy Ltd., that concludes today's call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.