NEW DELHI
: Actis Llp's BluPine Energy, Singapore's Sembcorp Industries Ltd, Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus Fund's Sekura Energy, Torrent Power and JSW Group are exploring the possibility of buying Brookfield Renewable's 1.6 gigawatt (GW) portfolio in India, they said two people aware of the development. The deal is expected to have an equity value of around $800 million.
JP Morgan is carrying out the sale process of 1.6 GW of capacity, of which 1 GW is operational, while the remaining 600 MW are under execution. Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a major investor in India's green energy space. Its Brookfield Global Transition Fund (BGTF) has committed to invest $1 billion in Avaada Ventures Pvt. Ltd. Additionally, Brookfield Renewable last year acquired a majority stake in rooftop solar producer CleanMax Enviro Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd for $360 million. Brookfield Asset Management has also signed an agreement with Mukesh Ambani promoted by Reliance Industries Ltd to explore decarbonisation and renewable energy equipment manufacturing opportunities in Australia.
"Non-binding offers (NBOs) are expected to be submitted shortly," said one of the two people cited above on condition of anonymity.
Spokespeople for Brookfield Asset Management Inc., JP Morgan, Actis, Edelweiss Alternatives and JSW Energy declined to comment. Queries emailed to spokespersons for Torrent Power and Sembcorp Industries Ltd on Thursday evening remained unanswered till the time of writing.
Brookfield, which has over $900 billion in assets under management globally, has invested $25 billion in India. Brookfield Renewable's portfolio comprises an installed capacity of around 33 GW across hydropower, wind, utility-scale solar, storage and green energy sources.
The economic times on February 1 reported that Brookfield was looking to sell 1.6 GW clean energy assets and hire JP Morgan for the process.
Green energy companies interested in Brookfield assets have been active in India's green energy transition space given the opportunities offered. Actis, which invests only in emerging markets, has so far committed $2.1 billion to India and now has its third clean energy company, Blupine Energy, in the space, after selling Sprng Energy and Ostro Energy to Shell Plc. and ReNew Power Ventures respectively. With $800 million from Actis Energy Fund 5, BluPine Energy is developing grid-connected solar and wind farms, as well as commercial and industrial projects with plans to develop a 4GW portfolio in India.
Sekura Energy, from the Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus Fund, is also active in the sector and is the favorite to buy solar projects totaling 350 megawatts (MW) from O2 Power, promoted by Singapore's Temasek and European alternative asset manager EQT , in an agreement with equity participation. and an enterprise value of $50 million and $200 million, as Mint previously reported. Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus, the alternative investment fund managed by Edelweiss Alternatives, invests in operating assets across all sectors, including roads, renewable energy and transmission. It has been active in green energy and in 2021 acquired a 74% stake in the Engie Group's solar portfolio in India with 813 MW of operational capacity. It is also interested in Macquarie Group's sale of 400MW solar projects from its Stride platform, with a potential deal with an equity value of around $300 million.
Sembcorp Ltd is also in talks with ReNew Energy Global Plc to buy solar power projects totaling 350 MW, with the deal estimated at around $241 million at the enterprise level and around $121 million in equity. This comes after an agreement could not be reached on the previously proposed deal for a total of 1.1 GW of ReNew's solar and wind assets of 350 MW and 750 MW respectively, due to a mismatch in the valuation of wind assets. Ahmedabad-based Torrent Power had also earlier filed an NBO for ReNew's solar and wind assets totaling 1.1 GW.
India has an installed renewable energy capacity of 180.79 GW, including 73.31 GW of solar capacity and 44.73 GW of wind power. The government's goal is to add 50 GW of green energy capacity annually to reach 500 GW of renewable capacity by 2030.
Additionally, India's updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has committed to achieving 50% of installed power generation capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy sources by 2030.
This, in turn, is attracting investors: the country received $6.13 billion of foreign direct investment in the renewable energy sector from April 2020 to September 2023, according to the Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade ( DPIIT).
