Image: Zach Shahan -- CleanTechnica

Actis Buys 600 Megawatts, Expands India Solar Portfolio To 2.3 Gigawatts

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Yet another Indian renewable energy company has sold off a part of its portfolio to raise funds. The latest transaction comes at a time when developers across the country are struggling with financial liquidity and staying away from large-scale auctions.

Image: Zach Shahan – CleanTechnica.com

Acme Cleantech Solutions, one of the largest solar power companies in India, has sold 600 megawatts of solar power capacity to Actis. Brookfield, another major investor in Indian renewable energy market, had also expressed interest in Acme but was outbid by Actis.

Actis already owns another renewable energy platform in India — Sprng Energy. The company has 1.7 gigawatts of solar and wind energy capacity.

Acme has been struggling financially for a few months. This struggle has been aggravated by the delay in timely payments by power retailers. According to government data, power retailers owe Rs 800 billion (US$10.8 billion) to power generation companies across the country.

Acme has stayed away from all solar power auctions for the last several months. The last project it secured had 600 megawatts at record-low tariff of Rs 2.44/kWh (US¢3.31/kWh). Several observers had questioned the financial viability of the low bid. Acme has been trying to raise funds since then.

We covered earlier the fact that the company at one time planned to float an initial public offer. It decided against this plan and considered setting up a yieldco to attract investors. Status of those plans remain unknown. Like many other major developers in India, Acme has managed to offload some assets to foreign assets to raise critical funds. The company is required to make a payment of Rs 7 billion (US$95 million) against a debt it had raised.

Recently, Adani Green Energy, another major renewable energy company in India, sold its entire 2.1 gigawatts of operational solar portfolio to French energy giant Total. Interestingly, Total also has a presence in India though Eden Renewables (its joint venture with EDF Renewables). Eden owns 200 megawatts of operational and 700 megawatts of under-construction solar power capacity.


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