KKR-backed IndiGrid, a power sector infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), has secured fresh funding from overseas development financiers to set up a new green energy platform in India.
The listed InvIT has announced receiving commitments worth $300 million (over Rs 2,500 crore) from impact investor British International Investment (BII), Norwegian Climate Investment Fund (NCIF), a vehicle of Norway-based development finance firm Norfund, and KLP, the largest pension company of the Scandinavian country — each contributing $100 million.
Avendus Capital advised IndiGrid on this transaction.
The new platform, EnerGrid, will focus on bidding and developing greenfield transmission and standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in India.
“This partnership will ensure that while IndiGrid continues to look for synergistic brownfield projects to acquire, we can also meaningfully create a growth pipeline for us in the under-construction space,” Harsh Shah, CEO and whole-time director of IndiGrid, said.
Earlier this financial year, BII and Norfund had invested in three of IndiGrid’s existing greenfield transmission projects that will help evacuate 6GW power across Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
IndiGrid, the country’s first InvIT in the power sector, has assets under management (AUM) of over Rs 29,700 crore.
The Indian transmission sector is seeing significant activity thanks to rising power demand, changing energy mix, and focus on energy transition. According to the latest estimates by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India will require an additional 170,000 circuit kilometers of transmission lines and 47 GW of BESS capacity over the next eight years.
