U.K.’s development finance institution CDC Group is investing ₹250 crore in solar energy firm Fourth Partner Energy.
The capital will be in the form of non-convertible debentures. The mezzanine capital will be deployed in growing its renewable-solutions platform across India and South Asia, a statement from Fourth Partner Energy said.
Managing Director and Head of Asia at CDC Srini Nagarajan said “we have been building scale in the renewable power sector and this investment into Fourth Partner Energy, on the distributed solar side of the sector, is a strategic investment that further enhances India’s renewable power capacity.”
Fourth Partner Energy manages a portfolio of 550 MW across its distributed and open-access solar portfolios. It has commenced operations across Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Vietnam and formed a joint venture in Indonesia.
Co-founder and executive director at Fourth Partner Energy Vivek Subramanian said the 3 GW solar capacity target by 2025 that the firm is pursuing meant significantly scaling up the current portfolio while growing the battery storage, energy trading and EV charging capabilities. “A long-term and patient capital provider like CDC fits perfectly into 4PEL’s financing ecosystem,” he said.
The investment marks CDC’s foray into India’s commercial and industrial (C&I) solar segment. For Fourth Partner Energy, this is its first major round of fund-raising in 2021. The release said CDC’s investment will support India’s clean energy transition and enable provision of cleaner energy to businesses. It will fund approximately 217 megawatts greenfield renewable power generation in India, to displace primarily thermal power generation, avoiding 258k tonnes of annual CO2 emissions.
In 2020, Fourth Partner Energy had secured a ₹110 crore ($15 million) round of funding from Swiss climate action fund ResponsAbility and a ₹126 crore ($16 million) investment from a consortium of European lenders, led by Symbiotics, the release said.
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