New Delhi: Japanese trading and investment company Sumitomo Corporation will acquire a 49 percent stake in the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) developing a wind and solar power project of about 500 MWp at Bidar in Karnataka. The project also includes large-scale battery energy storage. Hero Future Energies (HFE) is the renewable energy arm of the Hero Group. It announced the partnership in a statement on Monday and will keep the remaining 51 percent of the SPV.
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Rahul Munjal, Founder and Chairman of HFE, said the deal reflected his company's track record. "We are delighted to welcome Sumitomo Corporation as a strategic partner in this project. This partnership is an endorsement of HFE's capabilities to execute complex renewable energy projects at scale," he said.
He then linked the deal to the country's wider shift to clean energy. "As India enters the next phase of its energy transition, partnerships such as the one with Sumitomo will play a critical role in bringing together capital and execution excellence to accelerate all round adoption of clean energy," Munjal said.
For Sumitomo, the investment is part of a bigger plan for India. Jun Minase is General Manager of the Overseas Energy Solution strategic business unit at Sumitomo Corporation. "We are very pleased to collaborate with Hero Future Energies. We see significant potential in HFE's clearly defined growth ambitions, particularly as the share of renewable energy continues to grow rapidly within India's energy mix," he said.
Minase said the partnership would also open new business for the Japanese company. "Through this partnership, Sumitomo Corporation will strengthen our renewable energy business platform in India while pursuing new business opportunities that support the stable supply of renewable energy," he said.
Srivatsan Iyer, Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HFE, spoke about the kind of projects the company builds. "Hero Future Energies has built strong capabilities across project development, design and engineering and execution of complex renewable energy projects that can provide firm power to the grid," he said.
Iyer said the new partner would help HFE build out its pipeline. "This partnership will further strengthen our ability to execute our growing project pipeline and build on our capabilities as we scale our clean energy portfolio," he said.
HFE was set up in 2012. According to the statement, it has a global portfolio of 7.7 GWp of renewable energy assets and 2.9 GWh of battery energy storage capacity. These assets are spread across India, Ukraine, Vietnam and the UK, and the totals count both operating and under-development projects. Besides wind and solar, the portfolio includes hybrid power, peak power, and firm and dispatchable renewable energy (FDRE) projects, as well as energy storage and green hydrogen. HFE's investors include the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and KKR.
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HFE said the deal comes as global strategic and institutional investors take a growing interest in India's renewable energy sector. Nomura was HFE's financial advisor on the transaction.
