Teleconferência de Resultados da ReNew (RNW) no 1º Trimestre do Ano Fiscal de 2027: Crescimento do EBITDA, Guidance e Acordo de Fechamento de Capital

Principais destaques

• A receita no 1º tri do AF2027 aumentou 14% na comparação anual, para INR 44,6 bilhões. O EBITDA ajustado subiu 12%, para INR 30,4 bilhões, enquanto o lucro após impostos aumentou 16%, para INR 6,0 bilhões.
• A capacidade operacional da ReNew atingiu 13,5 GW, alta de 26% na comparação anual após ajustes por vendas de ativos. Seu portfólio total ficou em aproximadamente 20,5 GW, incluindo 1,7 GW de sistemas de armazenamento de energia em baterias (BESS).
• O segmento de fabricação gerou INR 16,4 bilhões em receita externa e INR 5,7 bilhões em EBITDA ajustado, representando uma margem de quase 34%. A gestão espera certa normalização das margens à medida que a capacidade adicional de células entrar no mercado.
• A ReNew reiterou a projeção de EBITDA ajustado consolidado para o AF2027 de INR 103 bilhões a INR 109 bilhões e a projeção de fluxo de caixa para os acionistas de INR 18 bilhões a INR 22 bilhões.
• A empresa assinou acordos definitivos para vender aproximadamente 1 GW em ativos, os quais a gestão espera que gerem US$ 190 milhões em fluxo de caixa para os acionistas no fechamento da transação.
• A ReNew celebrou um acordo vinculante de fechamento de capital com um consórcio formado pela CPPIB e Sumant Sinha. Os acionistas fora do consórcio poderão receber US$ 7,02 por ação em dinheiro ou, sujeitos a condições, optar por manter sua participação acionária.

Principais dados financeiros

Desempenho operacional e dos negócios

A ReNew comissionou mais de 600 MW durante o 1º tri e mais de 1 GW no AF2027 até a data deste relatório. A capacidade operacional totalizou 13,5 GW, composta por 5,6 GW de energia eólica, 7,8 GW de solar, 99 MW de hídrica e 100 MW/250 MWh de BESS.

A capacidade contratada ficou em 6,9 GW, incluindo 1,1 GW de energia eólica, 4,2 GW de solar e 1,6 GW de BESS. Nos últimos 12 meses, a empresa comissionou aproximadamente 2,8 GW.

A gestão afirmou que a execução dos projetos segue dentro do cronograma. Mais de 250 MW de capacidade solar já haviam sido montados e estavam em fase final de comissionamento. Mais de 50% dos módulos necessários para o restante da execução do AF2027 já estavam nos canteiros de obras, enquanto o restante foi garantido por meio de produção própria. Os preços de BESS foram totalmente fixados, e todas as turbinas eólicas necessárias para o ano foram contratadas dentro do orçamento.

O portfólio comercial e industrial (C&I) atingiu 2,9 GW, incluindo 2,6 GW em operação em cinco estados. A ReNew comissionou 330 MW neste segmento durante o AF2027 até o momento. Amazon, Microsoft e Google representam conjuntamente cerca de metade da compra de energia (offtake) contratada do segmento C&I.

A ReNew tinha 6,5 GW de capacidade de módulos e 2,5 GW de capacidade de células em operação. Sua unidade de células TOPCon de 4 GW deve se tornar totalmente operacional até o final do AF2027, com a primeira célula prevista para o final do ano civil de 2026. Uma fábrica de wafers na Índia, em Andhra Pradesh, deve ser comissionada no início do ano civil de 2028.

As contas a receber melhoraram após a ReNew receber INR 5,7 bilhões de uma distribuidora de Andhra Pradesh em julho de 2026. Isso reduziu o DSO de IPP de 71 dias no final do trimestre para aproximadamente 54 dias no final de julho. O DSO de fabricação foi de aproximadamente cinco dias.

Projeções da gestão

Para o portfólio de energia renovável contratado e totalmente construído de aproximadamente 20,5 GW, a gestão espera um EBITDA ajustado em ritmo de execução (run-rate) de INR 134 bilhões a INR 140 bilhões e um fluxo de caixa run-rate para os acionistas de INR 32 bilhões a INR 36 bilhões. Essas estimativas pressupõem condições climáticas normais, excluem as contribuições da fabricação e atualmente incluem cerca de 1 GW em ativos sob contratos de venda assinados. A empresa ajustará os números após o fechamento dessa transação.

Riscos e pontos de atenção

A expansão da rede elétrica continua sendo um gargalo, particularmente para projetos com conexão temporária no Rajastão. A gestão afirmou que o curtailment solar e o tempo mais nublado afetaram a geração durante o trimestre. Em resposta à pergunta de um analista sobre uma queda de 220 pontos-base na comparação anual no fator de capacidade das usinas solares, a gestão estimou que o curtailment e o clima responderam, cada um, por cerca de metade do impacto.

A ReNew está negociando uma possível compensação por curtailment com o Ministério da Energia da Índia. A gestão ressaltou que nenhuma conclusão foi alcançada e que a forma ou o valor de qualquer compensação permanece incerto.

As margens de fabricação caíram de 40% no mesmo trimestre do ano anterior para 34% no 1º tri do AF2027. A gestão citou a capacidade adicional do setor e a extensão da implementação da ALMM para vendas até 31 de dezembro como fontes de incerteza. A empresa manteve sua projeção de fabricação para o ano completo e poderá reavaliá-la junto com os resultados do 2º tri, caso o desempenho permaneça sólido.

A proposta de fechamento de capital permanece sujeita aos processos dos acionistas, judiciais e regulatórios. A gestão indicou que as aprovações regulatórias podem levar cerca de três a quatro meses, mas enfatizou que esse prazo não constitui uma projeção.

Destaques da sessão de perguntas e respostas com analistas

• Cronograma de fechamento de capital: A gestão prevê que o esquema entre em vigor no primeiro trimestre civil de 2027. A data-limite (long-stop date) da transação é de 95 dias após a publicação da circular do esquema ou 31 de março de 2027.
• Estratégia de BESS: A ReNew tem cerca de duzentos MWh comissionados. A gestão considera o BESS mercantil de longo prazo como algo difícil de estruturar, mas pode operar projetos selecionados em regime mercantil por um a dois anos antes de incluí-los em contratos de compra de energia (PPAs) existentes. Algum comissionamento está sendo considerado para o AF2028, embora nenhuma meta tenha sido fornecida.
• Reciclagem de ativos: A ReNew não divulgou o múltiplo de EBITDA da venda de ativos de aproximadamente 1 GW devido a restrições de confidencialidade. A gestão também afirmou que avalia diversos ativos, potencialmente incluindo usinas hídricas, como parte de seu programa de reciclagem de capital.
• Perspectivas para a fabricação: A gestão não espera uma queda imediata e expressiva na rentabilidade, mas permanece cautelosa porque as margens já se contraíram e novas capacidades de produção estão entrando em operação.

Transcrição completa da teleconferência de resultados

Transcrição completa da teleconferência de resultados

Comentários da administração

Operator

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the ReNew -- our ReNew's 1Q FY '27 Earnings Report. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Anunay Shahi. Thank you, and over to you.

Anunay Shahi

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We have put out a press release announcing our results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027.

A copy of the press release and the earnings presentation are available in the IR section of ReNew's website at www.renew.com. With me today are Sumant Sinha, our Founder, Chairman and CEO; Kailash Vaswani, our CFO; and Vaishali Nigam Sinha, Co-Founder and Chairperson, Sustainability.

After the prepared remarks, which we expect will take 20 to 25 minutes, we will open the call for questions. Please note that our safe harbor statements are contained within our press release, presentation materials and materials available on our website.

These statements are important and integral to all our remarks. There are risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Therefore, we encourage you to review the press release and the presentation on our website for a more complete description. Also contained in our press release, presentation materials and annual report are certain non-IFRS measures that we reconcile to the most comparable IFRS measures, and these reconciliations are also available on our website in the press release, presentation materials and our annual report.

With that, it is now my pleasure to hand it over to our Founder, Chairman and CEO, Sumant. Over to you, Sumant.

Sumant Sinha

Yes. Thank you, Anunay. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, everybody, and I'm glad to have you all on our earnings call for the first quarter of fiscal year ended March 2027.

After a terrific fiscal 2026, where we reported our highest ever EBITDA and PAT, we continue to deliver on our promise of profitable growth in spite of the uncertain global macroeconomic situation and grid-related challenges in India.

We also continue to be disciplined in our approach towards judicious use of capital and allocating capital only towards the highest return opportunities. Turning to highlights for this quarter.

Our focus towards executing at scale continues as we delivered a 26% growth in our operating portfolio year-over-year. We have commissioned over 1 gigawatt to date in the current fiscal, which includes over 600 megawatts in Q1 itself.

Our overall committed portfolio now stands at 20.5 gigawatts and includes 1.7 gigawatts of BESS and our total pipeline is at approximately 27 gigawatts. We also continue to execute our capital recycling plans.

In June 2026, we closed the sale of a 100-megawatt Tamil Nadu solar asset and received the proceeds. In August 2026, we also signed definitive documents for the sale of about 1 gigawatt of assets, which is expected to generate $190 million of cash flow to equity on closing.

These transactions underline the quality of our asset base and our ability to continuously find buyers at attractive valuations.

Additionally, we have 6.5 gigawatts of module and 2.5 gigawatt of cell capacity that is currently operational and a 4-gigawatt cell facility of TOPCon that is expected to be fully operational by the end of the current fiscal year.

We have also filed our Form 20-F for FY '26 and published our third integrated report with the theme beyond boundaries, decarbonizing value chains to deliver climate value at scale, in line with international reporting standards.

Coming to our financial performance. In this quarter, we have delivered adjusted EBITDA growth of around 12% with INR 30.4 billion adjusted EBITDA, including INR 5.7 billion contribution from our manufacturing business.

Our profit after tax increased by 16% year-over-year with INR 6 billion for Q1 of fiscal 2027, along with INR 12.8 billion in CFE.

Our DSO continues to reduce as we expand our portfolio and legacy issues continue to get resolved. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we received INR 57 billion from the Andhra Pradesh DISCOM, taking our DSOs as of July end to 54 days, 17 days lower than the Q1 FY '27 DSO number of 71 days.

Let me now hand over to Kailash to take us through the next 7 please.

Kailash Vaswani

Thank you, Sumant. Before turning to our operating performance, I would like to briefly address the take-private transaction announced on August 11, 2026.

ReNew entered into a binding transaction agreement with the consortium comprising of CPPIB and Sumant Sinha for the proposed take private of ReNew.

The proposed acquisition is expected to be effected through a U.K. scheme of arrangement and will be voted on by the non-consortium shareholders.

Non-consortium shareholders may either receive cash of $7.02 per share by transferring their shares to CPPIB Investments or its designated affiliates or subject to certain conditions, elect to roll over and remain shareholders.

The special committee comprising of independent directors, having received Rothschild & Co.'s opinion that the cash offer is fair from a financial point of view to the non-consortium shareholders, considers the cash offer and transaction agreement fair and reasonable and intends to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the scheme.

Further details on the scheme's timing will follow in due course. Turning back to the presentation on Slide 13 on the industry backdrop.

The electricity demand in Greece continues to support renewable energy growth.

Renewables contributed 86% of overall power capacity addition in Q1 FY '27 with 14 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity added. This included 12 gigawatt of solar and 1 gigawatt of wind and hydro each.

Coming to the demand side, peak demand has already touched around 271 gigawatt in FY '27.

Overall, electricity demand in July 2026 was up 11% year-on-year and was up 9% year-on-year for April to June period.

Demand is also increasing more in nonsolar hours, which supports higher battery installations. Installed renewable energy capacity, including large hydro stood at 289 gigawatt as of June 30, '26.

This includes 162 gigawatt of solar and 57 gigawatt of wind.

We believe this reinforces the continued structural growth of renewable energy in India. Additionally, Q1 also saw strong industrial production growth numbers, fueled by higher demand in all sectors of the industry.

In fact, the overall index of industrial production grew by about 7.3% in June. Additionally, the rupee appreciated slightly versus the U.S. dollar as the government's foreign currency nonresident scheme, which is the FCNR scheme, produced over $52 billion of fresh inflows.

Having said all of the above, grid build-out continues to be a drag on the entire industry with certain projects, including ours, particularly in the state of Rajasthan, having temporary connectivity facing curtailment challenges.

We are hopeful that coupled with build-out of certain lines in Rajasthan, some central government support, these issues will get resolved over the next few months. Turning to business updates on Slide 14. On project execution and our delivery remains derisked and on track.

We have already delivered over 1 gigawatt of commissioned megawatts during the year and are on track to deliver the projects that are due to be commissioned during the year. For solar, in addition to the megawatts commissioned so far, more than 250 megawatt has been erected and is in final stages of commissioning.

More than 50% of the modules required for the balance execution in rest of FY '27 are already at site with the balance secured through in-house production. Silver pricing exposure is also hedged for fiscal '27 for BESS, 100% of the pricing is locked in at attractive rates and about 25% has already reached project sites.

For wind, 100% of the wind turbines required for the year are locked in within budgeted levels. Land is also largely tied up or acquired for the execution requirements of the next 12 months. Turning to updates from our C&I business on Slide 15. We are very excited by and continue to expand our C&I footprint across India.

Our C&I portfolio currently stands at 2.9 gigawatts, including 2.6 gigawatts of commissioned capacity over 5 states, and we commissioned 330 megawatt year-to-date in the C&I segment.

We are also well placed to participate in new business opportunities such as supply to data centers. Our business is concentrated on larger projects, and we have excellent relationship with technology companies and hyperscalers.

For example, Amazon, Microsoft and Google collectively account for around half of the contracted offtake in our C&I business. As you may also recall, a LeapFrog-led consortium has invested $95 million of equity in our C&I business for 11.3% stake.

Turning to our manufacturing business on Slide 16. In manufacturing, we have one of the highest integrated capacities in India. Our manufacturing business has continued its profitable journey in the current fiscal year as well with an external order book standing at approximately 1.1 gigawatt.

Do note that we sell around 40% to 60% to our IPP business at an arm's length pricing, which doesn't get reflected in our overall financials because we consolidate them.

In Q1 FY '27, revenue from external sales of modules and cells was INR 16.4 billion and the adjusted EBITDA from external sales was INR 5.7 billion, with the adjusted EBITDA margin standing at almost 34%.

We expect that there may be some normalization in the latter half of the year as additional cell capacity comes online. On the 4-gigawatt TOPCon cell plant, Civil and PSV works are in final stages.

ATP and clean room work are progressing well. Printing lines are installed and the first cell is expected to be produced by the end of the current calendar year.

We are also progressing well on the Indian wafer plant in the state of Andhra Pradesh that's expected to be commissioned in early calendar '28.

Turning to Page 18. Our Q1 results reflect strong operating execution, continued growth in earnings and disciplined capital allocation. As of June 30, '26, our total portfolio was approximately 20.5 gigawatts, including 1.7 gigawatt of BESS.

Operating capacity stood at 13.5 gigawatt, which is up 26% year-on-year adjusted for asset sales and 22% on a net basis. This comprises 5.6 gigawatt of wind, 7.8 gigawatts of solar, 99 megawatt of hydro and 100 megawatt or 250 megawatt hour of BESS.

We also had 6.9 gigawatt of committed capacity, including 1.1 gigawatt of wind, 4.2 gigawatts of solar and 1.6 gigawatt of BESS.

During the trailing 12 months, we have commissioned approximately 2.8 gigawatts comprising more than 2 gigawatts of solar, 0.6 gigawatt of wind and 25 megawatts of BESS.

In FY '27, year-to-date, we have commissioned 1 gigawatt of capacity between wind and solar. On consolidated operating performance, revenue was up 14% year-on-year.

Adjusted EBITDA was up 12% year-on-year and profit after tax was up 16% year-on-year. For Q1 FY '27, total income was INR 47.9 billion, revenue was INR 44.6 billion and EBITDA was INR 30.4 billion, and profit before tax was almost around INR 8.3 billion.

Total adjusted income was INR 46 billion, comprising of INR 29 billion from IPP business and INR 16.6 billion from external manufacturing sales. Adjusted EBITDA was INR 30 billion, including INR 24.7 billion from the IPP business and INR 5.7 billion from external manufacturing sales.

Adjusted EBITDA margins for the IPP business were 86%, for manufacturing were 34%, and the margin was 66.1% on a consolidated basis.

Turning to Page 19. We remain disciplined in capital allocation with net debt to trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA for operational projects at 5.7x. The leverage level for projects operational for more than a year, that's with full year EBITDA contribution is further lower.

We continue to be committed to reducing our overall leverage. And to this end, we have been executing consistently on capital recycling with a portion of such proceeds expected to reduce our overall leverage. For example, we recently signed definitive agreements to sell more than 1 gigawatt of capacity, and this is expected to result in $190 million of cash inflows on closing, including some contingent amounts related to change in law proceeds.

On working capital, IPP, the days sales outstanding were at 71 days as of June 30, '26, which was a 3-year improvement year-on-year and a 12-year improvement over 2 years.

Further, subsequent to the end of the quarter, as Sumant mentioned earlier, we received INR 5.7 billion from Andhra Pradesh in July 2026.

As a result of this, the end of July, the DSO improved to around 54 days. Manufacturing DSO stands at around 5 days. Our balance sheet remains robust and well supported. Cash and cash equivalents, including bank balances and investments and short-term investments stood at INR 89 billion as of 30 June 2026.

Gross debt was INR 786 billion and net debt was around INR 671 billion as of the same date. I will now hand over the call to Vaishali for ESG and sustainability updates.

Vaishali Sinha

Thanks, Kailash. Now turning to Slide 21. As ReNew continues to achieve new milestones in growth and impact, we take immense pride in the fact that sustainability remains at the core of our business and value creation model.

With this, I am pleased to present to you our third annual integrated report for fiscal year 2025, '26 called Beyond Boundaries: Decarbonization Value Chains to Deliver Climate Value at Scale.

Reflecting the evolution of our sustainability journey and leadership in the energy transition space, this report expands our focus beyond our operations to the broader value chain. It demonstrates how ReNew is scaling climate value through transparency, accountability and collective action.

Let me begin with some key highlights from our environmental performance. We reduced Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 25.6% from a baseline, achieved an 84% renewable electricity mix and maintained carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions for the sixth consecutive year.

We continue to create meaningful value for communities, employees and our partners. Our socioeconomic programs have positively impacted more than 1.95 million lives so far. Women now represent 18% of our workforce and 15% of STEM roles. We completed ESG risk assessments from for 100% of our critical suppliers for the third consecutive year and expanded the scope to include Tier 2 suppliers as well.

Further strengthening our sustainable supply chain, we achieved 100% local sourcing of steel for wind tower plates. Turning to governance. Our Board maintained 55% independent representation. We further strengthened our enterprise risk management framework through an independent assessment and continued embedding accountability by establishing 27 organization-wide and 8 manufacturing-specific ESG targets.

Now moving to Slide 22. Our third integrated report reflects another year of steady progress with several enhancements that strengthen transparency and align more closely with global standards. We transitioned to a hybrid reporting structure, combining pillars and capitals to deliver a more integrated sustainability narrative aligned with leading global standards.

We completed a refresh of our double materiality assessment, reprioritizing material topics to reflect evolving stakeholder and business priorities. We published our inaugural ESG data book, creating a consolidated and more transparent view of ESG performance across business units.

We expanded our emissions accountability by including downstream Scope 3 emissions, reflecting the growth of our solar module and cell manufacturing operations. Together, these enhancements reflect a commitment to continuous improvement, transparency and reporting excellence.

Now moving to Slide 23. Our ESG targets continue to translate ambition into measurable outcomes, keeping us firmly on track towards our 2030 and 2040 commitments.

Let me start with environment where our focus on climate action continues to deliver tangible results. We achieved a 25.6% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions versus fiscal year '22 baseline, exceeding our target and advancing our SBTi aligned net zero pathways.

We delivered over 617,000 (sic) [ 617,167 ] cubic meters of water savings in fiscal year '25, '26 with over 5,000 cubic meters of water saved through robotic cleaning.

Our commitment to people and communities remains unwavering as we continue to invest in talent, inclusion and sustainable community development.

Through Project Surya, which we've talked about earlier, we continue to build green skills with 166 women trained as technicians in quarter 1 alone and additional cohorts progressing through advanced training programs. Our commitment to excellence continues to be reflected in strong external recognition and performance.

We closed the year with industry-leading scores across major ESG ratings and indices, including an S&P Global CSA score of 84, a CDP A list status for climate change and supply engagement, a AAA for MSCI and a Sustainalytics low-risk score, which is a favorable score of 11.6.

While we remain proud of these achievements, we continue to recognize that the journey is important. As we look ahead, we remain focused on building on this momentum, advancing our key commitments and continuing to embed sustainability as the core of our business. I will now turn it back to Kailash to take us through the guidance.

Kailash Vaswani

Thank you, Vaishali. Turning to guidance on Page 24. We reiterate FY '27 consolidated adjusted EBITDA guidance of INR 103 billion to INR 109 billion. This includes INR 10 billion to INR 12 billion from manufacturing and INR 1 billion to INR 2 billion from asset sales.

We continue to expect to construct between 1.6 to 2.4 gigawatt during FY '27 and generate cash flow to equity of INR 18 billion to INR 22 billion. For our total committed RE portfolio, which has marginally increased in the current quarter, we expect run rate adjusted EBITDA of INR 134 billion to INR 140 billion and run rate cash flow to equity of INR 32 billion to INR 36 billion assuming normal weather patterns and excluding contribution from our manufacturing business for a fully constructed RE portfolio of around 20.5 gigawatts, which includes 1.7 gigawatt of BESS.

Please note that this includes the 1 gigawatt of assets sold, which we have signed definitive agreements for, but closing has not yet happened. So once the closing happens, then we will adjust these numbers for that. With that, we will be happy to take any questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Justin Clare with ROTH Capital Partners.

Perguntas e respostas

Justin Clare

I wanted to start out just on the take-private transaction. Wondering if you could give us a sense for the expected time line from here to completion of the take private.

And then just what do you see as the key remaining milestones? And if you could share which approvals or conditions might present the most meaningful uncertainty in terms of the timing?

Kailash Vaswani

Thanks, Justin, for your question. As per the transaction agreement, we would anticipate the scheme becoming effective in Q1 2027.

The scheme document will be published as soon as reasonably practicable after we've completed the SEC review process and within 10 business days following the date on which the court grants the order for convening of the court meeting.

Scheme documents are typically published 4 weeks ahead of the court meeting date. And then there are some regulatory approvals, which will be sought in parallel with the actions above, and that would also take around 3 to 4 months to obtain.

So the long stop date for the transaction is the completion, which is 95 days of the publication of the scheme circular or 31st March 2027.

We must stress that this is not a guidance as we are not able to give the exact time lines for the regulatory, but this is broadly the indicative range of what the process from here on is likely to be.

Justin Clare

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just shifting over to the performance in the quarter. The solar PLF in your fiscal Q1 declined, I think it was 220 basis points year-over-year.

Just wondering how much of that decline may have been attributable to just the solar resource during the quarter versus any grid curtailment? And then if curtailment was a factor, is it an issue that might persist into Q2 or any additional quarters here?

Kailash Vaswani

So we have, Justin, been facing curtailment on the solar side. So that has definitely contributed a reasonable amount of -- to the decline in the PLF.

And this is again something that is an impact that we are seeing, but we are also trying to see if through advocacy, we can get compensated for the nonavailability of transmission network.

So that is something that we will pursue. And then obviously, then weather-related, there's been some additional impact also that we saw given that there were more cloudy days compared to last year, and that also contributed. I would say the split between the 2 would be maybe half and half between curtailment and weather patterns.

Justin Clare

Got it. Okay. And then just one more on the guidance here. So manufacturing contribution was pretty strong in Q1 here, so INR 5.65 billion compared to the guidance for the full year for manufacturing of INR 10 billion to INR 12 billion. So it implies a meaningful step down in the contribution in the balance of the year on a quarterly basis. Wondering if that's just conservative or are you anticipating a meaningful step down in the profitability there?

Kailash Vaswani

I mean we're not expecting a meaningful step down, but margins have been coming down a little bit. And there were extensions also which were granted as far as implementing ALMM on sales was concerned, which happened after the completion of quarter 1.

So there is a little bit of uncertainty in the market at this point in time with respect to margins and given that there's additional production capacity also, which is coming online.

So as a combination of these factors, we've decided to run the side of caution and not really change the guidance numbers. And obviously, as we see a stronger performance continuing into next quarter, then we could look to take a relook at the numbers again when we announce our Q2 results.

As far as margins are concerned, so last year, Q1 was at 40%, this year at 34%. So there has been some contraction, which you have seen already in the margins playing out. And then as more supply comes in, that is likely to continue a little bit also. So we will have to see how the trends play out in the backdrop of this ALMM for sales extension till 31st December.

Operator

The next question comes from Puneet Gulati with HSBC.

Puneet Gulati

Congrats on performance. My first question is on your comment on compensation with respect to curtailment. Is there a scope for confusion whether you should get compensated or not? I thought it was a straightforward cost down versus the G&A. If you can clarify a bit here.

Kailash Vaswani

Yes, I'm happy to.

Sumant Sinha

Sorry, Kailash, do you want to take that?

Kailash Vaswani

No, no, go ahead.

Sumant Sinha

No, I was only saying, Puneet, that for [ Transdown ] curtailment, we get compensated, as you know.

For any other TG&A curtailment, there is no specific mechanism to get compensated.

Having said that, we are having discussions with MoP right now about whether something can be made to work. Those discussions are ongoing.

So they haven't come to any form of conclusion right now. So one can't say what form, if any, those -- that compensation will take. We are certainly trying because this curtailment is happening through no fault of ours.

And that's the point that we made and acknowledge and it's acknowledged by the government as well. But we'll have to wait and see where those discussions end up at.

I don't think of this [ full compensation ] how much we can get.

Puneet Gulati

Understood. But there's no confusion [Technical Difficulty].

Sumant Sinha

No, there is no confusion. The charge-down part is also a much smaller number. It's a much smaller number compared to the PG&A curtailment that is happening.

Puneet Gulati

Understood. Secondly, what are your thoughts on the BESS side? How much is installed capacity today? And is there a plan to build something on the merchant side?

Sumant Sinha

We have maybe a couple of hundred megawatt hours right now that are commissioned. Building long-term merchant BESS is a little bit difficult because you don't know how things are going to evolve in the market over a 5- to 7-year time period, which is the minimum required to figure out what the return should be.

But what we are going to be doing is that in some of the projects that we are doing, to the extent that we -- those projects are getting commissioned, let's say, 2 years or 3 years from now, some of those BESS projects will commission earlier, run them as merchant plants for a shorter period of time because we know that in the near term, perhaps in the next 1 to 2 years, there is likely to be a reasonable arbitrage between daytime and leasing prices.

And so we'll hope to create that value over a 1- to 2-year period and then look to drop those BESS projects into existing PPAs that we have.

As those get commissioned, then we'll move these BESS projects into those.

Puneet Gulati

Is there a target for this commissioning for fiscal '27 or '28?

Sumant Sinha

We haven't specified a target. This year, it's a little looking unlikely because, obviously, this year, we haven't -- we are not at a point where we'll be able to commission anything for this year.

But certainly, for -- by next year, we are hoping to commission some amount. But once those plans get finalized, we'll let you guys know.

Puneet Gulati

Understood. That's very helpful. And lastly, if I may, on your recent sale of 1,000 megawatt assets to [ Purva ] , can you talk about what sort of EBITDA multiple you managed to get from that?

Kailash Vaswani

So Puneet, on that, we are -- once the closing happens, we will agree with the buyer what disclosure we would like to jointly make and then speak about it. Right now, we are under NDA.

Puneet Gulati

Understood. And just one more -- there was also a chatter about you trying to sell hydro plant. Is that something one should think about as a potential saleable asset as well?

Kailash Vaswani

So again, as part of our asset recycling, we do evaluate sales of various assets. So it could be part of such discussions that you may have heard about.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions at this time. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

Vaishali Sinha

Thank you.

Kailash Vaswani

Thank you.