THE ENERGY INTERVIEW
The country’ s renewable targets rose sharply, from 175GW, to 250 and then to 500. ReNew has become one of the companies helping turn those numbers into reality.
The company’ s evolution also reflects a broader strategic shift. It began as ReNew Wind Power, became ReNew Power and later simply ReNew. More than stylistic, the rebranding marked a move beyond electricity generation towards what Vaishali calls“ decarbonisation solutions”.
“ An IPP is just using solar and wind to generate electricity,” she says.“ But we were moving from electrons to molecules as well.” That meant green hydrogen, battery storage, solar manufacturing, emissions management and partnerships with customers outside the grid, including heavy industry and technology companies with demanding green power needs.”
“ It was really about decarbonisation,” she says.“ We felt that moving from being an IPP to being a decarbonisation partner to various stakeholders was the opportunity.”
Realism over rhetoric Vaishali’ s view of the energy transition is rooted in realism rather than slogans. She describes how India’ s 2070 net zero target is a development strategy in a country still working to extend electricity access and economic opportunity.“ You have a country with a lot of people below the poverty line, a lot of people without access to electricity. So it was about electricity access first, not just clean electricity,” she says.
As prices fell and renewables became economically attractive, India’ s energy
“ YOU CAN’ T SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS BY LEAVING 50 % OF THE POPULATION BEHIND”
Vaishali Nigam Sinha Co-Founder ReNew
transition started to gain momentum.“ When the pricing curve bent in favour of renewables, it became an economic imperative,” she says. That is why she pushes back against the idea that sustainability can be treated as a side project.“ Setting a net zero goal for 2050 means nothing if you’ re not going to achieve it,” she continues.“ You have to set realistic goals.”
ReNew’ s own ambitions are equally concrete. It is aiming for net zero by 2040 – a goal that has been validated by the SBTi – and its business is built around that ambition.
Women, work and transition For Vaishali, the clean energy transition is also a question of inclusion. She speaks with particular verve about women in energy, arguing that climate action is an impossibility without them.“ You can’ t solve these problems by leaving 50 % of the population behind,” she says.“ That’ s a cliché, but it’ s really true.”
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