SOLAR INVESTMENTS - FROM FUNDINGS TO PARTNERSHIPS & ACQUISITIONS: WEEK 40

Waaree Energies’ INR 30 billion IPO gets SEBI green signal; India’s Tata Power to invest INR 1.2 trillion for RE in Rajasthan; Grenergy’s solar acquisition to expand storage project. All these and many such stories in our TaiyangNews Solar Investment Newsletter.

This is a weekly newsletter to keep you updated on the latest developments in solar investments, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, public offerings within the solar industry. These are select stories that have been published on our website. Subscribe to weekly updates for the top stories from TaiyangNews. Visit https://taiyangnews.info/ for all the news on solar.

#SolarInvestments #SolarPV #Solar #SolarAcquisitions #SolarMergers #SolarJointVenture

FUNDINGS

€6 million for 18 MW in Burkina Faso: French independent renewable energy company Qair has raised a €6 million ($6.64 million) concessional financing package for the completion of an 18 MW solar power plant in Dédougou, Burkina Faso. The PV project is contracted under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Société Nationale d’électricité du Burkina Faso (SONABEL). The financing package was approved by the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA). It supports the bank’s Desert-to-Power initiative that seeks to develop 10 GW of solar energy capacity across 11 nations in the Sahel region by 2030.

Sudene backs solar in Brazil: The Superintendence for the Development of the Northeast (Sudene) in Brazil has approved BRL 149.62 million ($27.5 million) for the development of Monte Verde Solar VI and V SA solar PV plants to be funded from the Northeast Development Fund (FDNE). These projects with 49.68 MW and 48.36 MW capacities will come up in Pedro Avelino and Jandaira and are owned by EDP Renováveis Brasil. The total investment in these projects is estimated to be BRL 457.27 million ($84.08 million), with Sudene contributing BRL 205.52 million ($38 million). In August 2024, Sudene had approved BRL 267.2 million from the same fund for the development of 4 PV facilities (see Latin America PV News Snippets: Wood Mackenzie’s Elissa Pierce At RE+ PV Conference & More).?

INR 25 billion for ABReL: Aditya Birla Group’s renewable energy division Aditya Birla Renewables Limited (ABReL) has raised INR 25 billion ($1.2 billion) through non-convertible debentures on a private placement basis. It includes a base issue size of up to INR 20 billion ($239.3 million), and a greenshoe option to retain oversubscription of up to INR 5 billion ($60 million). The debentures will mature on September 24, 2027. ABReL develops renewable energy projects with a focus on solar, floating solar, solar-wind hybrid, wind, and battery storage technologies. It is also exploring the green hydrogen and green ammonia domains.? ??

€132 million for Gorbea project: Formerly Solarpack, Spanish renewable energy projects developer Zelestra has closed a €132 million financing package for its 435 MW Gorbea Solar Plant in India’s Rajasthan. The project is contracted by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) as the offtaker for 25 years. This financing in Indian currency INR is designated as green financing under the company’s Green Financing Framework. It signed the financing agreement with lenders HSBC, Credit Agricole, MUFG and Bank of America. The company currently has 1.5 GW projects in operation, construction, signed or awarded with a total portfolio of close to 5 GW. Zelestra India CEO Sajay K.V. said the Gorbea project kickstarts the company’s ambitious growth plan in India.?

GCL establishes RMB 13 billion perovskite industry fund: GCL, together with Kunshan City and the Wujiang District government, has jointly initiated the establishment of an industry fund totaling RMB 13 billion ($1.85 billion) to promote the development of the perovskite industry and related equipment industries. This includes GCL signing a strategic cooperation agreement with Kunshan City to establish a RMB 10 billion ($1.43 billion) perovskite industry fund to support the construction of a 20 GW perovskite module production facility. Additionally, GCL signed a cooperation agreement with Wujiang District to jointly build the GCL Perovskite Equipment Industrial Park, establishing a RMB 3 billion ($427.74 million) GCL Perovskite Equipment Industry Fund. GCL stated that the establishment of these 2 funds will facilitate technological innovation and improvement of the perovskite equipment industry chain and supply chain.

Sungrow establishes distributed PV investment fund: Sungrow announced that its controlling subsidiary, Sungrow New Energy Development Co., Ltd., signed a partnership agreement with Shanghai Jingping Electric Power Co., Ltd., Jiangxi Risheng Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd., and Juxin Hongyuan (Jiangsu) Private Fund Management Co., Ltd. All the companies have come together to establish the Taizhou Energy Fund. The fund has a total subscribed capital of RMB 10.01 million ($1.42 million). As a limited partner, Sungrow New Energy subscribed to 14.9850% of the total contribution. The Taizhou Energy Fund intends to primarily invest, directly or indirectly, in residential distributed solar PV projects through equity investments. These projects will obtain PV power generation equipment through operating leases and carry out business operations through third parties.

IPO

Waaree Energies’ INR 30 billion IPO gets SEBI green signal: Indian solar PV manufacturer Waaree Energies has secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch its initial public offering (IPO) to raise INR 30 billion ($361 million) (see Waaree Targets Up To INR 30 Billion Via IPO). Local media reports claim the company received the final regulatory approval for the proposed issue on September 20, 2024 to raise money by selling up to 3,200,000 shares priced at INR 10/share face value. As announced earlier, it aims to deploy the proceeds on establishing a 6 GW ingot, wafer, cell and module manufacturing facility in Odisha, and general corporate purposes. Its current annual solar module manufacturing capacity stands at 12 GW. It has also announced plans to establish a 5 GW module fab in Houston, US.?

INVESTMENTS

India’s Tata Power to invest INR 1.2 trillion for RE in Rajasthan: India’s leading private integrated power company Tata Power will invest INR 1.2 trillion ($14.3 billion) over the next 10 years for clean electricity generation and infrastructure in the country’s desert state Rajasthan under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the state government. Part of the investment plans include the development of 10 GW of renewable energy capacity and an advanced 2 GW solar module manufacturing project.?Of the total targeted investment, INR 750 billion ($8.95 billion) will be allocated for 10 GW of renewable energy capacity. It will be deployed as 6 GW solar and 4 GW hybrid projects including battery energy storage systems (BESS) to be developed across Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer, and Jodhpur. For the complete story, click here. ??

JLR’s solar investment: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced plans to transform its Halewood production facility in the UK with a ￡500 million investment. Part of these plans include the installation of 18,000 solar panels to produce 8,600 GWh of energy. This will be equivalent to 10% of the site’s energy consumption. JLR said it aims to remove 40,000 tons of carbon emissions from Halewood’s industrial footprint with a mix of renewables, fuel switching and energy efficiency products. This will contribute to its overarching target of becoming net zero by 2039. The Halewood site has been a purpose-built manufacturing site for JLR that the company now wants to turn into its all-electric production facility. It will continue to manufacture internal combustion engine (ICE) and hybrid Range Rover Evoque and Discovery Sport alongside future battery electric vehicles (BEV) products at the site. ??

ArcelorMittal invests in solar: Steel behemoth ArcelorMittal is investing in 465 MW new solar PV capacity in Brazil to secure and decarbonize its future electricity needs as it aims to become self-sufficient in its electricity requirements. One of the projects is a 200 MW PV plant on the same site in Bahia as the 554 MW wind power project of Casa dos Ventos. ArcelorMittal has signed a joint venture (JV) with the company for this wind power plant in 2023. The duo will develop the solar power plant also as a JV. The other solar project with 265 MW capacity will also be a 50:50 partnership between ArcelorMittal and Atlas Renewable Energy in Minas Gerais. Both solar power plants are targeted to come online before the end of 2025.

DIVESTMENTS

Scatec’s South Africa divestment: Norway’s Scatec has closed phase I of its previously announced sale of parts of its ownership in the Kalkbult, Linde, and Dreunberg solar power plants in South Africa. The buyer is Greenstreet 1 Proprietary Limited, a subsidiary of STANLIB Infrastructure Fund II, managed by STANLIB Asset Management Proprietary Limited. It has received a gross consideration of ZAR 921 million ($53 million) for the total ownership share sold to STANLIB. Now, Scatec owns close to 31% interest in Kalkbult and a 28% stake in Linde and Dreunberg projects. Phase II of the divestment is expected to close in H1 2025, bringing down Scatec’s stake in these facilities to around 13% in Kalkbult, and 12% in Linde and Dreunberg.

12.2 MW AC solar plant in Zimbabwe: Gold miner Caledonia Mining Corporation has signed a conditional sale agreement to sell the entire share capital of its Zimbabwe subsidiary Caledonia Mining Services (Private) Limited or CMS. The latter owns and operates the 12.2 MW AC solar power plant that powers Blanket Mine in the African nation. It has sold CMS to CrossBoundary Energy Holdings (CBE) for $22.35 million in cash. The solar power plant will continue to sell power to the mine under a power purchase agreement (PPA). This will ensure close to 1/5th of the mine’s daily electricity requirement is met by renewable power. CBE plans to expand the solar power plant.

REPURCHASE

Maxwell announces share repurchase plan: Solar production equipment maker Maxwell Technologies has announced that its chairman has proposed to use the company's funds to repurchase some of its RMB-denominated ordinary shares (A-shares). The company plans to repurchase a minimum of RMB 50 million ($7.12 million) and a maximum of RMB 100 million ($14.25 million) worth of its shares. It plans to use these repurchased shares to maintain the company's value and shareholders' equity. The repurchased shares will be sold through centralized bidding transactions according to relevant regulations 12 months after the disclosure of the repurchase results and share changes announcement, and the sale will be completed within 3 years after the disclosure of the repurchase results and share changes announcement. If the company fails to complete the sale within the specified period, the unsold portion will be canceled through relevant procedures, said its announcements.

ACQUISITIONS

PPC expands in Greece: The Public Power Corporation Group (PPC), the Greek government controlled public utility, has acquired a portfolio of renewable energy projects in Greece from Copelouzos and Samaras Groups. It comprises 66.6 MW operational capacity, with 43.3 MW of wind and 23.3 MW of solar PV projects, and up to 1.7 GW of projects under development that the trio will develop jointly, according to a company statement referred to by the local media. The PPC has reportedly paid €106 million to acquire the 1.7 GW capacity. Definitive agreements are to be signed by the end of the year. ?

Grenergy’s solar acquisition to expand storage project: Spanish renewables group Grenergy Renovables is expanding its Oasis de Atacama Project in Chile which is the world’s ‘largest’ battery project at 4.1 GWh capacity, with 2 new phases. It will invest $128 million to acquire 100% of 1 GW solar including a 1 GW energized line from Repsol and Ibereólica. This will expand the storage project’s capacity to 11 GWh and double its solar PV generation capacity from 1 GW to 2 GW. The operation comprises a 77 MW solar project and 923 MW of PV projects currently in various stages of development. The project also has a 1 GW interconnection line built and energized to facilitate the connection process for the projects under development. Phase I of the Oasis de Atacama project is expected to be connected by the end of 2024, while the remaining phases will be connected between 2025 and 2026. All energy from the initial 4 phases will be sold. BYD is supplying the large-scale storage systems for the project.?The Oasis de Atacama project is expected to produce around 5.5 TWh of energy annually which will be transferred to non-solar hours. This is equivalent to the annual consumption of a city like Madrid. Grenergy’s Executive Chairman David Ruiz de Andrés said, “Battery investments are going to multiply globally, and this project will allow us to be a benchmark in the sector.”???

JOINT VENTURES

German JV for renewable energy: Brandenburg, Germany based ENERTRAG and Energiequelle have launched a joint venture (JV) to focus on energy transition in the Lusatia region. The JV Grünstrom Lausitz GmbH will start with the development of renewable energy plants near Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park. They plan to put together their combined experience in project development and in the operation of wind and solar power plants. One central focus of their partnership is cooperation with municipalities and local partners. Municipalities benefit from the money the company will pay for the lease of municipal land, trade tax revenues and from ‘wind and solar euro.’ Under the latter arrangement in Brandenburg, wind and solar power operators pay a special levy to eligible communities during the operation of their projects (see German State Launches Solar Expansion Offensive).??

Chint establishes JV to invest in residential distributed PV power generation: Chint Group, the parent company of solar PV manufacturer Astronergy, has announced that its controlling subsidiary Zhejiang Taizhou New Energy Co., Ltd. plans to form a joint venture (JV) with investment firm Jiaxing Yizheng Equity Investment Partnership. The JV will focus primarily on investment in residential distributed PV power generation infrastructure projects recommended by Chint Aneng. In July and August this year, Chint also cooperated with China's financial control platform Yuexiu Capital to establish an investment fund partnership, focusing on investment in residential distributed photovoltaic power generation infrastructure projects and supporting energy storage facility projects recommended by Chint Aneng, as well as investment in residential distributed photovoltaic power generation infrastructure projects.

POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS (PPAs)

Solar PPA for Carrefour in Italy: French renewable energy firm Qair has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with France-based global retailer Carrefour for a solar power plant in Italy. Qair will develop the ‘additional’ solar plant with 52 MW capacity in the Latium region by 2026. Carrefour targets to achieve 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2030. Qair said this partnership will support Carrefour in its decarbonization, with this 1st stage supplying a consequent part of Carrefour Italia’s consumption. Carrefour Italia’s CFO Jean Francois Dohogne said that this contract will allow it around 75 GWh of renewable energy/year, the equivalent of powering 30 of its hypermarkets.??