Greenko Group is most likely to acquire wind and hydro power generator Bhoruka Power Corp. Limited’s 310 Megawatts clean energy portfolio.
L&T Infrastructure Finance Co. Limited owns an equity stake of Rs 350 crore invested in Bhoruka Power Ltd., which presently operates 170 Megawatts of wind capacity, 30 Megawatts of solar capacity and 110 Megawatts of hydropower capacity in the states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Karnataka. They are also constructing a 200 Megawatts wind farm in Karnataka.
This news came out as a result of Greenko Energies Pvt. Limited being backed by Singapore’s GIC Holdings Pte. and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), taking over SunEdison’s Indian possessions for about $392 M last year.
A source, who wished to remain anonymous said, “Greenko is exploring to acquire Bhoruka Power’s portfolio.” This news was confirmed by another source as well.
On Wednesday, it was reported that Bangalore-based Bhoruka Power is planning to raise around $120 M in equity, quoting its MD, S. Chandrasekhar. However, Chandrasekhar later informed that the news was incorrect. Greenko Group’s founder Mahesh Kolli refused to comment on the same.
As per the latest BP Energy Outlook released in the month of January, our country’s demand for renewable energy is estimated to increase sevenfold by the year 2035. Accordingly, the renewable energy shares in India’s fuel mix would rise to 8 percent in the year 2035 from the present 2 percent.
The solar and wind power tariffs have reached a low of Rs 3.46 / kilowatt-hour (kWh) and Rs 2.97/ kilowatt-hour (kWh) respectively. The Indian government has an ambitious target of achieving 175 Gigawatts (GW) capacity of renewable energy by the year 2024 as part of the country’s commitments to the agreement at Paris Climate Meet.
Renewable energy experts hope for better consolidation to happen in this field.
Sambitosh Mohapatra, partner at PwC India said, “With the promising outlook on growth of renewables given the focus on climate change, sustainability and breakthrough technologies, serious players would be keen to scale up operations and building a sustainable business model with a portfolio of contracts across various utilities, customer segments, power purchase agreement tenure and rates.”
By the year 2024, India plans to achieve their target of 100 GW capacity of solar energy and 60 GW capacity of wind energy
This target has given a nudge to new investors and entrants. It has also triggered many acquisitions and mergers. Many investors are attracted by our country’s clean energy segment including Japan’s Mitsui Group and CDC Group Plc.