Engie looks to expand India presence with renewable and battery development

(Corrects development plans in the 5th bulletto include reference to wind and batteries)

PARIS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - French utility Engie views India as a key investment location for renewables and battery storage following market reforms there, its country manager Amit Jain said on Thursday.

• Engie is well positioned to grow in India following changes in the market there, including the opening of a power exchange and the authorisation of hedging instead of just physical delivery

• "With the market changing now, there's a place for Engie to really scale up and that's what we're planning as we go in the future," Jain said in a media call

• Engie just finished developing 450 megawatts of solar capacity in India, split across two projects

• The company currently has 2 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity in operation or under development in India, and plans to expand that capacity to 7 GW by 2030, including battery storage

• India plans to develop 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030 and is seeking $220 billion in clean energy investment over the next three years

• "There is a lot of growth that is happening, a lot of opportunity. Land is not a constraint... at the moment," Jain said

• India has run into issues in recent years with mass development of renewable supply constrained by transmission infrastructure leading to power curtailments

• Jain said curtailment comes from a mismatch between the development times of renewable energy and transmission infrastructure, but expects it to be a short-term issue

(Reporting by Forrest Crellin; Editing by Susan Fenton)