Hero Future Energies, part of one of India’s leading industrial conglomerates – the Hero Group – recently issued the country’s first certified climate bond.
Hero Future Energies recently raised Rs 300 crore (around US$44 million) by issuing non-convertible debentures to finance the development of wind energy projects. The debentures were issued with a certification from the Climate Bonds Initiative.
KPMG acts as the verifier for the bonds issue, and released a report stating that the proceeds shall be used for setting up wind energy projects in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh with cumulative capacity of 521.5 MW. KPMG also assessed that the total capital cost for setting up the said capacity will be around Rs 3,229 crore (US$480 million).
Hero Future Energies plans to increase its renewable energy portfolio to 2.5 GW over the next few years. The company currently operates 40 MW of solar power projects while another 90 MW capacity is under construction. It also operates 220 MW of wind energy capacity across various states in India and is working on an additional capacity of 150 MW. The company claims to have 1.1 GW of wind energy capacity in pipeline.
Last year, the company committed to setting up 2.85 GW of solar power and 2.3 GW of wind energy capacity in India by 2022. In August 2015, the company shared plans to raise $100 million to fund its capacity expansion. In October, the company placed an order for 100 MW of wind turbines with Gamesa for a project in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
Hero Future Energies is probably the second Indian developer to have raised funding through green bonds. Last year, CLP India had raised Rs 600 crore (US$90 million) to expand its renewable energy capacity.
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