SunEdison plans to offload equity in 500 MW Andhra Pradesh project

SunEdison, the US renewable energy company, plans to sell equity in the 500 MW Andhra Pradesh project in India. The firm has already contacted potential buyers and hired investment advisors to evaluate the potential deal.

SunEdison won the project in November 2015, offering US$0.067 per share in an auction conducted by NTPC for solar plants in Andhra Pradesh under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. SunEdison's bid of US$0.067 per unit, was a record low tariff, even it is comparable to new coal-fired power plants. 

Now, SunEdison could exit the project by selling up to a 49% stake.The company is testing the viability of three strategies. The options include: holding assets on its balance sheet, selling them to its yieldco or partnering with third party investors.

Pashupathy Gopalan, President of Asia Pacific at SunEdison, said:

"We are always looking for equity investors as a business model in addition to selling our assets to our YieldCo. The power purchase agreement (PPA) we're about to sign for the Andhra project allows us to sell up to 49% stake after signing the PPA. But we insist that SunEdison is extremely serious about executing the project. In our business model, we will continue to explore three strategies on an ongoing basis, holding assets in our balance sheet, selling assets to our YieldCo and partnering with third party investors."

SunEdison has canceled the acquisition of Continuum Wind Energy, a Singapore-based company with assets in India. Additionally, the firm has rejected an US$700 million deal to buy the renewable energy company Latin American Power, with assets in Chile and Peru, and also announced last October reduction of employees.