Aug 1: Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus is eyeing to explore the opportunities in the country’s renewable energy sector. As a result, the company is now said to be pursuing a significant stake in Solairedirect, the solar wing of French energy firm Engie SA.
Engie was previously reported to be having plans for selling stakes in Solairedirect. Edelweiss Infra Funds is said to be carrying forward the talks with Engie, though both the companies are yet to confirm the matter. With the stake acquisition, Edelweiss will be eyeing to grab hold of good quality operating assets with credible revenue counter-party, low operating costs and long residual life in the renewable space.
The move comes at a time when solar energy tariffs are coming down to a record low. Competitive financing has become more crucial than before, and financing at lowest cost has become a strong factor. With the government employing measures to promote local solar players, the tariffs are only expected to go further down. Finance Ministry has recently introduced a safeguard duty for two years on solar cells and modules imported from China and Malaysia.
Engie currently has a production capacity of 810 megawatt (MW) with its solar infrastructure in India, and the company has set the target to raise it to 2 gigawatt by the next year. Besides, Engie also has wind power generation capacity of 280 MW. The company had sought to depart from coal sector after selling the Meenakshi Energy thermal power plant in Andhra Pradesh. The coal-fired thermal plant was sold to India Power Corp Ltd. in November 2016.
Source: corporateethos
