By Sethuraman N R and Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) plans to bid for states’ renewable energy projects to meet its target of 10 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030, its Chairman and Managing Director R.P. Gupta said on Tuesday.

The company, which issues and award tenders for the federal government’s renewable energy projects, expects investments worth $7.7 billion for a mix of solar, wind and battery storage projects by 2030.

India is targeting 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030 as part of its 2070 net zero goal, and currently has installed capacity of about 154 GW.

“States are going for their own tenders where we are not needed … That makes it necessary that we enter into the developer mode in order to remain in the business,” Gupta told Reuters.

“Participating in the bids would be a new area for us,” he said.

The government-owned company plans to raise debt for about 75%-80% of the expected investment, and would meet the rest through a mix of equity and internal accruals, Gupta said.

Last month, SECI announced plans to go public in the next one to two years.

Apart from building its domestic renewable energy portfolio, SECI is also looking to expand globally, initially as a project management consultant and then as developer, Gupta said.

SECI currently has renewable power generation capacity of 300 megawatts. It is constructing 1,200 MW projects that are expected to go online by June 2026, Gupta said, adding that the firm is hiring staff to become a power producer.

“We have been doing the project on a smaller scale but now we will have to go really big and for that we are already adding the employees”.

Large power producers in India, such as Tata Power, NTPC, and Hero Group, have announced plans to invest billions of dollars over next six years for developing renewable energy project in the country.

($1 = 84.0500 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR; Editing by Nidhi Verma and Varun H K)