Canadian investor Brookfield will be investing $1 billion in Avaada Ventures, which will be its largest green energy funding in India. Recently, it is reported that a formal agreement was signed between Brookfield and entrepreneur Vineet Mittal, founder of the Avaada group, and the first tranche of $400 million has been disbursed. The remaining $600 million will be disbursed based on performance-linked milestones as projects scale up. Avaada Ventures is the holding company of the group. Funds raised from Brookfield will be used for the group's solar cell or module manufacturing and green ammonia plans, and scaling up its renewable energy generation capacity. It is also learnt, though not confirmed by Avaada, that the company is also negotiating with existing investor, Thailand's state-owned utility PTT, to deploy another $300 million. In July 2021, PTT invested $454 million in Avaada Energy, the solar arm of the Avaada Group, and holds a 43 per cent stake in the unit, the report added. Avaada Energy had commissioned solar projects to the tune of 2,937 MW by 30 April 2022, and has a pipeline of about 1,526 MW, as per a report by credit rating agency IndiaRatings. The group's cell or module plans include a state-of-the-art facility with an annual production capacity of 5 GW, expected to become operational in 2023. Avaada intends to scale up its capacity to 10 GW by 2030, along with backward integration into polysilicon, ingots and wafers. Brookfield's billion-dollar funding for Avaada comes at a time when renewable and energy transition investments are gaining importance for private equity investors. Brookfield is one of the largest investors in renewable power and climate transition assets, with approximately 24,000 MW of generating capacity worldwide, and $1 billion in assets under management in renewables in India as of September 2022, according to the report.
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Avaada intends to scale up its production capacity to 10 GW by 2030
