Zodiac Energy began life in 1992 assembling diesel generators for India’s telecom rollout, then moved into gas-based power plants before pivoting decisively to solar after 2012 - a three-decade journey from standby power to turnkey clean-energy infrastructure. Today it is a fully integrated solar EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) company that designs, builds and maintains solar power plants for rooftops, factories and utilities, and has recently begun generating its own electricity as an Independent Power Producer. The recurring pattern is a company that follows India’s energy transition one step at a time, using the skills and customer relationships from each era to enter the next - diesel to gas to solar, and now from building plants for others to owning them itself. # Business segments Three engines at different stages - a solar construction business that does everything from a home rooftop to a utility-scale field, a young power-generation business selling electricity under long-term contracts, and a small international wing planting the same EPC model in Africa. ## 1. Solar EPC: building the plant, from design to handover **The company earns its living by delivering complete, ready-to-generate solar power plants - it designs, buys the panels and inverters, installs everything, and hands over a working system, recognising the bulk of its revenue at that point.** - **Paid at commissioning** - revenue from an installed solar plant is recognised only after the customer inspects and approves the finished system, so the company carries the cost of materials and work until that moment. - **No factory of its own** - it does no manufacturing; it sources every component - panels, inverters, cables, structures - from suppliers, which means its inventory is just raw materials and its fixed assets are mostly vehicles. - **Four customer types, one playbook** - the same EPC approach serves residential rooftops (over 7,900 systems installed), commercial and industrial rooftops (more than 170 installations for businesses like Honda), ground-mounted utility projects (a 37.5 MW plant for Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation), and niche installations such as a 15-kilowatt solar tree and an 800-kilowatt floating solar plant. - **Quality over price in a crowded market** - the rooftop business faces a flood of unorganised competitors offering unrealistically low prices, so the company deliberately targets customers who value assurance and service rather than the cheapest bid. - **Policy risk is built into the cost structure** - a 40% basic customs duty on imported solar modules and restrictions on Chinese panels under the ALMM (Approved List of Models and Manufacturers) can suddenly shift input costs, and the company has no technology agreements to cushion the blow. ## 2. Solar IPP: owning the plant and selling the power **Instead of building a plant for someone else, the company now builds one for itself and sells the electricity under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement - a move from one-time project fees to a recurring revenue stream that began in earnest in FY25.** - **Anchored by a government scheme** - the entry point was a 26.56 MW contract under the PM KUSUM scheme, which pays the company to build decentralised solar plants at rural substations and feed power directly into the agricultural grid. - **Revenue arrives with the electrons** - income from power sales is recognised only when electricity is delivered to the grid and accepted by the state distribution company, measured at the tariff fixed in the PPA. - **Scaling cautiously** - the company describes its IPP expansion as selective, pursuing only projects that are margin-accretive rather than chasing capacity for its own sake. - **A large ambition on paper** - a Memorandum of Understanding with the Gujarat government, signed at the Vibrant Gujarat summit, signals an intention to invest ₹3,000 crore over five years in solar plants under multiple ownership models, though this remains a statement of intent rather than a committed pipeline. ## 3. International operations: exporting the EPC model to Africa **The company is taking the same turnkey solar construction skills it uses in Gujarat and applying them in Zambia, with a handful of projects won and a local subsidiary now being set up.** - **First foothold in Zambia** - the initial African order came in August 2024, a $1.08 million ground-mounted solar system for a sugar company, followed by a $720,000 rooftop-plus-battery-storage project for a packaging firm in Kitwe. - **A subsidiary to hold the beachhead** - in July 2026 the board approved incorporating a wholly owned subsidiary in Zambia to execute turnkey projects and run local operations, moving from remote project delivery to an on-the-ground presence. - **MENA in the sights** - the company is also targeting the Middle East and North Africa, aiming to fill what it sees as structural gaps in solar supply with its EPC capability. # Group structure and partners **A tightly held promoter company that is only now beginning to build a group structure - acquiring shell LLPs from related parties and planning its first operating subsidiaries, both in India and abroad.** - **A single entity until very recently** - as of the FY25 annual report, the company had no subsidiaries at all; it operated as one legal entity with all business flowing through the listed company. - **Acquiring promoter-linked LLPs** - during FY26 it bought majority stakes (51% to 98%) in several Limited Liability Partnerships - Radhavallabh, Priyapritam, Dharmik and Shamli Solar Projects - all of which were set up to develop solar power but had nil turnover, and all were acquired from the promoter group in related-party cash transactions. - **One LLP bought and quickly sold** - a 50% stake in Dhwarkesh Solar Projects LLP was acquired and then disposed of within the same year to a relative of a director for ₹50,000. - **Subsidiaries now on the drawing board** - the board has approved incorporating a domestic subsidiary (to be called Zodiac Energy IPP-1 Private Limited) for power generation and EPC, and the Zambian subsidiary for international projects. - **Promoters hold nearly three-quarters** - as of March 2025, the promoter group owned 72.86% of the shares; the board is led by the husband-and-wife team of Managing Director Kunjbihari Shah and Whole Time Director Parul Kunjbihari Shah, alongside five independent directors.