Eversource Capital, the joint venture between solar power producer Lightsource BP and asset manager Everstone Group, has led a $330m funding round for India-based renewable energy project developer Ayana Renewable Power.
The round also featured the state-owned National Investment and Infrastructure Fund of India (NIIF) and CDC Group, the UK government-owned development finance organisation that set up Ayana, while Eversource is participating through its Green Growth Equity Fund.
CDC launched Ayana in January 2018 with an undisclosed amount of funding to develop hundreds of megawatts of wind and solar energy projects in India and neighbouring South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Myanmar.
The company currently has roughly 500 MW of solar power under construction, having won the rights to develop 250 MW in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh through an auction by government agency Solar Energy Corporation of India in July 2018.
Lightsource was renamed Lightsource BP in 2017 when petroleum supplier BP paid $200m for a 43% stake in the company. James Brooks, Lightsource BP’s chief strategy officer and managing partner for EverSource Capital, said: “We are excited about our new partnership with Ayana, CDC and NIIF.
“It is the first investment by our joint venture EverSource Capital and is representative of the future of sustainability investments: viable, commercially attractive, sustainable and scalable.
“Ayana’s highly credible partners and management team possess the necessary world-class expertise, capital backing and relationships to build a market-leading renewable power platform for India.”
Image courtesy of Ayana Renewable Power Private Limited.
