Bharat Light and Power Pvt Ltd and Norwegian state utility Statkraft AS have formed an equal solar energy joint venture, joining a growing list of companies looking to benefit from emerging opportunities in India's renewable energy sector.
Statkraft BLP Solar Solutions Pvt Ltd will provide rooftop and ground-mounted solar solutions to industrial and commercial customers in India, as per a press statement. It will also provide financing solutions to customers.
This is the second partnership for BLP, the Delhi-based clean energy company floated by former GE India CEO Tejpreet S. Chopra. In September, it agreed to sell a majority stake in its utility-scale wind and solar subsidiary for €30 million ($33.5 million, or Rs 221 crore) to Enel Green Power SpA, part of Italian power and gas company Enel spA.
A number of Indian companies have announced plans to enter the solar energy sector after the government in June increased the solar power capacity target to 100 gigawatt by 2022, up from 4 GW currently. The government also plans to raise wind energy capacity to 60 GW from 23 GW.
In October, diversified business conglomerate Aditya Birla Group and Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Group joined hands to build a platform focused on developing utility-scale solar power plants in India. Japanese internet and telecom group SoftBank Corp has formed a JV with Taiwanese electronics manufacturing services firm Foxconn Technology Group and India's Bharti Enterprises Ltd for producing renewable energy in the country.
BLP aims to operate 1 GW of renewable energy projects by 2020. It owns operating wind plants in Gujarat and Maharashtra that have a total capacity of 172 MW and total annual production of about 340 GWh. It also has about 600 MW of wind projects in different stages of development.
Bulk of the operational wind power capacity came under BLP's fold after it bought developer DLF's 150 MW wind turbine at Kutch in Gujarat for Rs 325.38 crore ($54 million) two years ago. This deal value included equity and debt components.
BLP had raised a Series A round of funding from early-stage investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson and VenturEast in December 2011. A year later, it also roped in India Infrastructure Development Fund as an investor.
