International Finance Corporation, the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank, is likely to provide debt financing worth Rs 960 crore ($150 million) to Mahindra Renewables Pvt. Ltd to construct a 250 MW solar power plant at Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Park in Madhya Pradesh.
The proposed investment will involve debt financing of up to Rs 320 crore from IFC’s own account while it will seek to mobilise up to Rs 640 crore from other lenders, it said in a disclosure.
The project is estimated to cost around Rs 1,280 crore.
The investment proposal will be placed before IFC's board on 9 February.
Mahindra Renewables is wholly owned by Mahindra Susten Pvt. Ltd, the cleantech arm of the Mahindra group. Mahindra Susten is a solar engineering, procurement and construction services company.
Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Park is equally divided into three units. The solar park is being developed by Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Ltd, a joint venture between Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd and Solar Energy Corporation of India.
The project is expected to be commissioned by December 2018.
IFC’s board has approved $60 million loan each for ACME Jaipur Solar Power Pvt. Ltd and Arinsun Clean Energy Pvt. Ltd which are the developers of the other two units in Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Park, as per the disclosure by IFC.
India has an ambitious target of achieving grid-connected solar energy capacity of 100 gigawatts by 2022. As on 15 December 2017, the total installed grid-connected solar capacity was 16.676 gigawatts.