ReNew Power – From A Buyer to Seller of Renewable Energy Assets

ReNew Power, one of the largest green energy firms in India has decided to put up its 300 MW of solar assets for sale. This announcement comes amidst a financial crunch that the renewable energy industry in India is currently facing. India has set up an ambitious renewable energy installation target to meet its growing power needs. As such, different states had also increased their targets and were working hard towards achieving the same. Read why we think India could miss its RE target big time. Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were a few of the southern states leading the renewable energy report card in India.

However, with the new Jagan Reddy government coming into power in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, things have gone haywire. The now AP government claims that all the renewable energy contracts signed in the last five years will need to be renegotiated as they were signed at high prices and have led to losses for the state-owned power distribution companies. This change has caught the investors off guard. Private developers who had signed power purchase agreements with the state government have been witnessing a fall in their credit ratings and also higher borrowing costs. ReNew Power also suffered as a result. The company has a huge presence in the state and the 300 MW of assets that are put up for the sale are also located in the southern states. Renewable energy companies are also facing delayed payments by state utility boards, which has also led to working capital crunch.

As one of India’s largest renewable energy independent power producers, ReNew Power engages in acquiring profitable renewable energy assets. The company had a capacity of over 8 GW of wind and solar power assets across India, as of June. However, since these companies receive funding to finance receivables rather than to focus on growth, selling these assets could free up some funds to be deployed elsewhere. Like ReNew Power, many other firms such as Mahindra Susten, Continuum Wind Energy, etc. are looking for active buyers for their renewable energy assets.