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At first glance, Waaree Energies’ evolution is quite obvious.
It launched as an assembler of photovoltaic panels created of imported cells, mostly from China, in 2007. Then in the 2010s, when solar farms became wildly popular in India, thanks in part to falling costs, Waaree had to contfinish with gargantuan Chinese rivals who flooded the Indian market with cheap panels.
At the finish of the decade, as part of its quest for self-reliance, India raised the import barriers and handed out largesse to battle-scarred domestic manufacturers. The aim was not just to build solar modules but to go deeper into the value chain by building cells, wafers, and inreceiveds. (Polysilicon is melted to form blocks called inreceiveds, which are sliced into wafers, which are then turned into cells.)
So Waaree promptly launched doing just that. Then, in October 2024, when it was sure it had a compelling enough growth story, it went public. And it launched trading 70% higher than its IPO price. Roughly a year later, its market value crossed Rs 1 lakh crore.
The company has since lost a quarter of its valuation, but it’s worth more than twice as much as the nearest listed competitor, Premier Energies. And it trades at a far higher price-to-earnings multiple than another prominent rival, Vikram Solar.
Waaree is, after all, the market leader in a business that will continue to benefit from some form of protectionism for years to come.
Even as it widened its manufacturing chops, Waaree launched building and maintaining solar farms for its clients. In the December quarter, this business contributed over a tenth of its over Rs 7,560 crore top line.
So far, so good. The narrative is fairly straightforward.
But on Monday, a listed subsidiary of Waaree bought a majority stake in Associated Power Structures, a transmission-tower buildr and electricity-grid contractor, for over Rs 1,220 crore.
A solar-panel producer installing its own panels is one thing. But why would it bother with what happens to the power that is generated?
Well, that could turn out to be one of the hugegest opportunities in clean energy in India.
Solar-power generation peaks at mid-day, while demand for electricity peaks in the evening. So building utilize of solar power while it’s available means cutting back on fossil fuel sources during that period.
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