CleanMax, a Mumbai-headquartered renewable energy producer backed by Brookfield Asset Management, is targeting 1.5 gigawatts (GW) of capacity additions in FY27 and more than Rs 3,000 crore in EBITDA by FY28, according to Kuldeep Jain, who set out the company's next growth phase in an ETMarkets Management Talk conducted by Kshitij Anand.

Data centres, AI infrastructure and the broader Make in India push are key demand drivers, according to Jain, alongside demand from the manufacturing sector. CleanMax supplies businesses through open-access and captive wind, solar and hybrid projects — arrangements that allow companies to buy renewable power outside conventional utility supply — and corporate decarbonisation commitments have made this commercial and industrial segment a fast-growing part of India's clean-energy market. An AA credit rating and a planned Rs 2,500 crore bond issue are expected to strengthen the company's access to funding as it scales its renewable portfolio.

Strong Q1 Performance

CleanMax delivered more than 100% year-on-year revenue growth and 70% growth in adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter. The company commissioned a record 0.5 GW of capacity in Q1 and is guiding for at least 1.5 GW of additions in FY27.

Given the long-term nature of the company's contracts, the interview examined how much of the current growth pace is sustainable and whether investors should expect some normalisation in the coming quarters, as well as the company's confidence in meeting or exceeding its FY27 addition target.

Data Centres and AI as Growth Engines

Data centres and AI infrastructure now account for 42% of CleanMax's contracted renewable energy power sales capacity. That portfolio has grown nearly tenfold in just over two years, prompting the question of whether it could become the single biggest growth engine for the company. That shift tracks a broader expansion of India's data centre industry, where cloud adoption and AI workloads are drawing large investments in new capacity and large technology buyers with clean-energy commitments are a growing source of demand for the renewable power needed to run it.

CleanMax serves commercial and industrial (C&I) customers across technology, digital infrastructure, manufacturing and industrial sectors, and the discussion explored which of these segments is currently showing the strongest incremental demand for renewable power.

Funding and Cost of Capital

The company's cost of debt has declined to 8.4%, down from 9.2% in April 2025 — a meaningful lever in a capital-intensive sector where projects are largely debt-financed and upfront costs dominate. The interview addressed how much of this benefit can be passed through to project returns as the portfolio scales.

CleanMax's board has approved a domestic bond issuance intended to diversify funding sources and secure long-term fixed-rate financing. Indian renewable energy developers have increasingly tapped the corporate bond market for such long-tenor capital, and the conversation turned to how large this financing could be and its potential impact on the company's overall cost of capital in light of its credit rating.

Scaling the Portfolio

CleanMax has grown its contracted portfolio threefold in two years and currently operates a 6 GW portfolio. With the renewable energy market becoming increasingly competitive, the interview probed the biggest challenge in scaling to the next 10 GW, including whether potential bottlenecks or resistance — amid some political volatility in 2026 — could affect growth. The expansion plans come as India works toward its national target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel installed capacity by 2030, with corporate demand forming a growing part of that build-out.

Source: Economic Times Markets