Sanjay Teotia, senior vice-president (VP) and head, power transmission, Essel Infra, has been spearheading operations at Essel Infra since 2016. He is responsible for the top line and the bottom line of the business, and is currently handling a portfolio of $1 billion. He is also responsible for the development of 575 MW of solar plants in four states.
“The future lies in solar,” Teotia observes, though for the present, thermal will continue to dominate. Commenting on the challenges ahead, he says, “While technology is being employed in the sector, it is being done on a case-by-case basis. It needs to be implemented in a bigger way.” The state governments also need to step up their efforts to ensure greater application of tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB). “The future of TBCB is not very bright,” he says.
An electrical engineer from Aligarh Muslim University, Teotia began his career in 1987 as a project engineer with Syscon Engineers. During his over 30 years of experience in the industry, he has worked with organisations like Reliance Industries Limited, Reliance Energy Limited (REL) and Areva T&D. Prior to his current job, he was senior VP and project director at Lanco Infratech Limited.
Teotia recalls three assignments that marked important milestones in his professional journey. The first was the infrastructural enhancement of the Delhi distribution system, which he executed under REL. This involved the refurbishment of grid substations, as well as the crucial component of laying EHV cables to enable better connectivity amongst grid substations during peak load periods. The second was overseeing Lanco’s execution of the 1,200 MW Anuppur TPP, which was commissioned in March 2016. This is the second plant in India for which BoP and BTG integration has been done in-house. The third memorable assignment for him was the commissioning of two transmission projects with a capacity of 1,400 MVA and 440 ckt. km of transmission lines by Essel Infra. “Both projects were commissioned within a period of just one year. That is a significant achievement,” says Teotia.
Asked about his favourite cuisine, Teotia says, “I’m a very simple person. I prefer home-cooked food.” He likes spending his spare time with his wife. His family also includes his two sons – one, an engineer, working as a financial analyst in Minnesota, USA and the other, who is pursuing higher studies in the US.