Azure, which is based in New Delhi and has an office in Washington DC, is a pioneer in India’s booming solar market, having brought the country’s first utility-scale PV project online in 2009.
The company claims to have secured more capacity through India’s various PV auctions than any other developer over the past six years – with a 68% win rate.
Azure competes with local developers like Tata Power, as well as with foreign heavyweights targeting the Indian market like US-based SunEdison and China’s Trina Solar.
In addition to its development work, Azure has in-house EPC and O&M capabilities. As of 30 September, the company had 242MW of operating capacity on its books across 17 projects, and it expects to have 520MW by the end of 2016.
The company aims to have 1GW of capacity by the end of 2017, and 5GW by the end of 2020, as it looks to take advantage of India’s surging demand for power. The Indian government has set a 100GW solar target for 2022.
For all its ambitions, Azure acknowledges it has never made a profit, and expects to continue taking losses “for the foreseeable future” as it focuses on growth and expansion.
In the year to 31 March 2015, the company lost 1.09bn rupees ($16m) on revenue from power sales of 1.12bn rupees.
Azure’s financial backers include International Finance Corp., which is a unit of the World Bank; Helion Venture Partners, an India-focused venture-capital firm; and German development finance institution DEG.
