Switzerland-based private equity firm Partners Group AG is evaluating to acquire stake in Continuum Wind Energy Pte. Ltd.
Partners Group with around $55 billion of assets under management has been seeking green energy opportunities in India. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners is the majority owner in Continuum Wind, a Singapore-based India-focused firm, in which the former invested $212.03 million in 2012.
This comes in the backdrop of a consolidation in the renewable energy sector. In the largest deal in the country so far, Tata Power Co. Ltd signed an agreement to buy the renewable energy business of Welspun Group for Rs.9,249 crore, including debt, in June. Also, SunEdison Inc. has put its entire portfolio of 1,318 megawatt (MW) in India up for sale.
“Partners Group is doing their due diligence for Continuum,†said a person aware of the development requesting anonymity.
Another person aware of the development, who also didn’t want to be identified, said, “They (Partners Group) are looking into it (Continuum Wind Energy).â€
According to information available on Continuum Wind Energy’s website, the firm has a portfolio of around1,800MW of which 412.5MW is operational.
Queries emailed to the spokespersons of Continuum Wind Energy on 27 July and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners on 28 July remained unanswered. Partners Group AG declined to comment on the development.
The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government has set a target of 175 gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy projects by 2022. Of this, 100GW is expected to be in the solar power domain and 60GW in wind power. India has an installed capacity of 26.8GW of wind and 7.6GW of solar power at present.
Experts believe that India is an attractive destination for power sector investments especially the renewable sector.
“More than fall in costs, the scale of activities in the country makes this a fertile ground for long-term investors,†said D.K. Shrivastava, chief policy adviser, at consultancy firm EY.
The clean energy strategy is at the heart of the government’s ambitious target to halve the country’s energy imports by 2030. Higher green energy capacity will also help fulfill India’s pledge to reduce emissions, as committed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris last year.
India Ratings and Research Pvt. Ltd in a recent report predicted a decline in capacity addition for financial year 2016-17 compared with the highest wind capacity addition of 3.2GW in the last financial year. Installed capacity in financial year 2015-16 grew by 14% to reach 26.7GW.
Of the 60GW of wind power capacity planned by 2022, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra together are expected to add nearly 27%. Gujarat is among the top five states including Tamil Nadu (29%), Maharashtra (17%), Rajasthan (15%) and Karnataka (11%) accounting for 86% of India’s wind generation capacity.
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