India’s Greenko & Sembcorp Receive Funding For Renewable Energy Expansion

Bond payment defaults and renegotiations of wind and solar power projects are proving to be a challenge in India. Even as the Indian renewable energy sector struggles with these stressful developments, a number of large and ‘well-backed’ companies are receiving additional funds for further expansion of operations.

Greenko Energy Holdings announced the closure of another equity funding round. This time, the company managed to raise US$329 million through a rights issue. Singapore’s sovereign growth fund GIC and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) picked up an additional stake in the company. GIC would remain the majority stakeholder in the company.

A few days back, GIC and ADIA invested US$495 million in Greenko to push the latter’s renewable energy storage projects in India. Greenko is working on two energy storage projects in states in southern India. We shared the details of these projects in a recent article:

The Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Storage Project (IRESP), located in Andhra Pradesh, will consist of 2 gigawatts of solar power and 2 gigawatts of wind energy capacity with pumped hydro storage capacity of 8,000 MWh. The project shall be designed for a discharge duration of eight hours. The project is estimated to generate 2.77 billion kilowatt-hours of energy every year at a cycle efficiency of 76.1%.

The Saundatti Integrated Renewable Energy Storage Project (IRESP), located in Karnataka, will consist of 2 gigawatts of solar power and 2 gigawatts of wind energy capacity with pumped hydro storage capacity of 9,600 MWh. The project shall be designed for a discharge duration of eight hours. The project is estimated to generate 3.32 billion kilowatt-hours of energy every year at a cycle efficiency of 76.7%.

ADIA has made investments, and holds a stake, in Greenko’s competitor ReNew Power Limited as well.

Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries increased its stake in its Indian subsidiary Sembcorp Energy India, with an infusion of around US$75 million. With this investment, the parent company has increased its stake in the Indian subsidiary from 93.73% to 94.05%. The remaining stake is owned by the company’s Indian partner Gayatri Energy Ventures. This fresh funding is expected to be used for expansion of their renewable energy business in India.

Sembcorp Energy India itself owns 100% of Sembcorp Green Infra, which houses the company’s renewable energy assets. Green Infra owns a portfolio of 1.7 gigawatts of solar and wind energy projects. The company was the first to commission a wind energy project (capacity: 250 megawatts) under India’s reverse auction regime. The company secured 800-megawatts of wind energy capacity in three auctions to date, accounting for 7% of the total allocated capacity in India’s wind energy auctions, Cleantechnica’s analysis shows.