Lightsource Renewable Energy and UK Climate Investments, part of the Green Investment Group within Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA), have entered into a partnership platform to fund the development, acquisition and ownership of large scale solar power generation assets in India.
UK Climate Investments and Lightsource will jointly target the greenfield development and acquisition of operational utility scale solar assets in India with the shared ambition of seeding a platform that can create high-quality de-risked investment opportunities in one of the world’s fastest growing solar markets. It will mobilise the large scale deployment of institutional capital through Lightsource.
The seed asset for the partnership will be Lightsource’s 60MWp project in the Indian state of Maharashtra, which reaches financial close simultaneously with this announcement. Participating in a competitive tender process in 2016, Lightsource secured the project in a competitive 450MW tender from the Indian State, managed by Solar Energy Corporation India “SECI”. Over 200,000 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, will be ground mounted across 240 acres. Upon completion, the solar farm will generate enough clean electricity to power around 20,000 homes.
While UK Climate Investments will provide 49% of the equity for the construction of the first project, it has earmarked up to GBP30 million in aggregate for this project and for a broader partnership with Lightsource to develop and construct up to a total of 300 MW of PV projects. Third party funding and commercial project finance debt will support the initial and subsequent projects.
This equity investment is the first by the joint venture, which uses official development assistance from the International Climate Fund to leverage private investment into low carbon projects in India and Africa.
As part of the agreement, Lightsource will provide operations and asset management services for the platform in the long-term; building on the company’s experience providing these services in Europe.
Nick Boyle, CEO for Lightsource said:
“The UK Climate Investments partnership, and our first Indian project reaching financial close, are significant milestones in the growth of Lightsource. This project is a testament to the strength of the team we have in India, supported by a global project finance and operational capability, that have made this project a success. UK Climate Investments are a fantastic partner for us to seed the foundations of a large solar and smart energy investment and operating platform in India.”
Martin Stanley, Global Head, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets commented;
“This first investment for UK Climate Investments will provide the necessary sponsor support for the first project in a very promising series of potential solar investments in India, in line with UKCI’s investment mandate. Working with the UK’s leading solar developer, we will look to stimulate a positive transformational impact by bringing industry-leading best practices of risk mitigation and management to the local market.”
We have recently reported about several solar PV projects in india:
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an independent global infrastructure investor, has announced that its fund, Global Infrastructure Partners III - in conjunction with the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers, CIC Capital Corporation and a group of its other Limited Partner Co-Investors - has agreed to acquire 100 percent of the equity interests in the wind and solar renewable energy portfolio of Equis Funds Group for US$5.0 billion (including assumed liabilities of US$1.3billion).
Read moreIndias's government has announced plans to tender 4.5 GW of wind projects in the next four months, which will be aimed to leverage wind power capacity in the country.
Read moreThe Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has tendered a 2X100 MW (AC) Solar PV Power Plant for Coal India Limited (CIL) including 10 Years Plant O&M at Neemuch-Mandsaur Solar Park, in Madhya Pradesh, India.
Read moreThe European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed a new partnership with the International Solar Alliance (ISA) to mobilise finance to develop and deploy affordable solar energy in solar rich countries.
Read moreThe wind tariff in India has touched lowest level of INR2.64(0.0404US$) per kWh in the second wind auction conducted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) on behalf of Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India yesterday.
Read more