By Business India Editorial

Global investment firm KKR has signed a $400 million financing deal with India-based Serentica Renewables to expand its clean energy projects.

Serentica Renewables, which is developing 1.5GW of solar and wind projects across Karnataka, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, said that it already has three power purchase agreements in place.

“We are happy to have a like-minded strategic partner in KKR who believes in our model of sustainable development. The world is undergoing a clean energy transition and India is at the forefront of this effort with its ambitious target of 450GW by the year 2030,” said Pratik Agarwal, director of Serentica.

The company develops round-the-clock (RTC) renewable energy solutions for energy-intensive, hard-to-abate industries in India by combining power production with storage facilities, it said.

RTC energy has been of particular concern in the country of late, and the state-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India sought to contract 2.25GW of RTC renewables supply in September of this year.

Hardik Shah, partner at KKR, said: “Energy-intensive, heavy-industry companies play an important role in society but have traditionally faced more challenges in meeting energy needs sustainably. With Serentica, we look to support these companies in their decarbonisation objectives.”

KKR and Hero Group have invested $450 million in Indian independent power producer (IPP) Hero Future Energies (HFE) to support its renewables expansion.

The investment, led by KKR, will position the IPP for growth across technologies such as solar, wind, battery storage and green hydrogen, while also supporting it to enter new markets by 2025.

With the Indian solar PV market sets to accelerate its growth this decade and the government’s push to incentivise domestic manufacturing production, the investment will also allow HFE to look into newer technologies such RTC power, which has been heavily sought after in India in recent months, or solar-wind hybrid projects, according to global CEO of HFE, Srivatsan Iyer.

KKR continues to invest in Asia where it launched its renewables platform, Aster Renewable Energy, to develop, build and operate solar, wind and energy projects in Taiwan and Vietnam initially, before expanding to other markets in Southeast Asia.

In 2020, the equity firm launched Virescent Infrastructure in India to own and operate renewable assets in the country.

Rahul Munjal, chairman and managing director at HFE, said: “With this investment, Hero Future Energies will work to accelerate India’s energy transition and contribute to the Indian government’s target of generating half the country’s power from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.”

The firm has deployed over $15 billion to date in renewable energy investments globally.