NSL Renewable Power Pvt Ltd (NRPPL), a part of the Hyderabad-based NSL Group, has signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to raise $30 million. NRPPL has recently raised $60 million from a consortium including private equity and strategic investors.
The money raised from ADB will support NRPPL's hydro and wind-power projects. It will also use the money to part finance the construction expense of the 100 MW Tidong run-of-river hydropower project in Himachal Pradesh and the 75 MW Chilarewadi wind project in Maharashtra.
Two days ago, NRPPL raised $60 million from investors including Germany’s DEG and France’s Proparco. The investors who participated in that round of funding also included South Korea’s private equity firm Asia Clean Energy and GS Power Co. Ltd in addition to existing investors FE Global Clean Energy Corp and International Finance Corporation (IFC).
NRPPL, which was demerged from the group’s flagship Nuziveedu Seeds Ltd, plans to build a capacity of 1,000 MW by 2016.
Nuziveedu Seeds, the largest seed company in India with a turnover of more than Rs 1,300 crore, is backed by the private equity major Blackstone. As of end 2012, NRPPL had 185 megawatts of operational projects (including hydro, wind, biomass and solar power projects), with an additional 336 megawatts of renewable power under construction or in advanced development.
“India will increasingly need renewable energy to drive its development and the private sector will play a central role in developing the renewable energy sector to help the country achieve green growth,†said Lakshmi Venkatachalam, ADB’s vice president for private sector and co-financing operations.
ADB is a regional development bank established to promote economic and social development in Asian and Pacific countries through loans and technical assistance. The bank was founded in 1966 and is based in Manila, the Philippines.
This is ADB’s first investment in a private sector renewable power generation company in India and the second investment this year in the country. The bank invested $2 million in Bangalore-based Simpa Energy India Pvt Ltd in March and in February, it sold its stake in Kanpur-based Central UP Gas Ltd. Simpa provides clean energy solutions with a pay-as-you go pricing plan, but is not a power generation firm.