In April, ReNew Power Ventures had acquired Ostro Energy at an enterprise value of $1.5 billion, in India’s largest renewable energy deal.
Backed by Actis, Ranjit Gupta and Murali Subramanian, former chief executive officer (CEO) and chief operating officer (COO), spearheaded the growth of Ostro Energy through a prudent renewable energy auction strategy entailing an equity investment of $280 million and a debt of about $900 million.
It helped Ostro Energy leapfrog from one 50 megawatts (MW) project in Rajasthan to 1.1 gigawatts (GW) when it was sold.
They plan to repeat this performance and are in talks to initially raise $100 million to establish a new renewable energy platform in India.
The developments come at a time when India has emerged as one of the most favourable destination for renewable energy with investments of about $42 billion. Over the next four years, the green energy sector has business potential of $70-80 billion.
India registered record low solar and wind power tariffs of ₹2.44 per unit and ₹2.43 per kilowatt hour, respectively. With competitive solar bids and India’s wind energy sector having transitioned from a feed-in tariff regime, which ensures a fixed price for wind power producers, to tariff-based competitive auctions, obtaining finance at the lowest cost has become key. Also, the global green economy is going through a transition with falling battery storage prices.
“Ranjit and Murali understand the renewable energy space and have been part of Ostro’s success, given their experience and seeing the growth potential (as stated above) they may be able to repeat their success story.”
Reference- Live Mint