India’s REC, a subsidiary of Power Finance Corp., has announced plans to expand its lending in the renewable energy space to Rs 2.4 lakh crore by 2030. VK Singh, director-technical of REC, stated that despite challenges in land and grid availability, government policies and support from states have been encouraging. REC aims to sanction Rs 75,000 crore this year for renewable energy projects, with a total disbursement of Rs 30,000 crore, constituting 25% of its total disbursements. The company recently raised $750 million through green bonds to finance clean energy projects. Singh highlighted the increasing demand for green hydrogen and the declining cost of production. He believes that expanding green hydrogen production in India would be more beneficial than grey or blue hydrogen. Singh also commented on the improved financial viability of the power sector due to government reforms and schemes such as RDSS and LPS, which have led to timely payment of dues and improved performance of utilities. All discoms are currently paying dues to power companies on time, and state governments are actively involved in supporting discoms through subsidies and tariff revisions. Singh expects the legacy dues to generation and transmission companies to be fully paid by 2025, with outstanding dues decreasing from 1.39 lakh crore to around Rs 70,000 crore. He concludes by emphasizing the importance of these reforms in improving the power sector’s financial health.
