FOURTH PARTNER ENERGY RAISES US$ 15 MILLION IN ITS THIRD ROUND OF FUNDING FROM ZURICH HEADQUARTERED DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENT ASSET MANAGER ‘RESPONSABILITY INVESTMENTS A.G.’

This facility will be utilised for construction of new assets across the company’s distributed solar and open access portfolios

Mumbai: India’s leading Solar solutions firm, Fourth Partner Energy today announced it has raised USD 15 million (~₹110 Cr) in debt funding from responsAbility.

This marks the third round of funding anchored by responsAbility into Fourth Partner Energy through its dedicated climate finance funds. ResponsAbility has earlier deployed two rounds of financing to Fourth Partner Energy in 2016 and 2017.

Pradhyum Reddy, who led this transaction from Fourth Partner Energy explained, “in our tenth year of operations, we are looking to add capacity of close to 350 MW across both distributed solar and open access portfolios. We are building solar parks in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Market sentiment for solar solutions is robust and at Fourth Partner Energy, we believe our value proposition of cost-savings on electricity and low-carbon emissions has been amplified during this global pandemic. This third line of credit from responsAbility reflects their confidence in our industry expertise. It is also a positive indicator of the faith the investment and lender communities have on the country’s solar growth potential. We will be using these funds towards constructing new assets for our marquee customers.“

Founded in 2010, Fourth Partner Energy has grown to become one of India’s largest companies in the distributed solar sector. Today, the company manages over 400 MW of assets for over 150 clients in India.

ResponsAbility’s ‘Access to Clean Power Fund’ is a private debt fund that seeks to address the lack of access to clean power globally, with a strong focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia. The Fund targets companies that provide solutions to households without access to electricity and to businesses looking for cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy. Beyond the financing of the dynamic off-grid energy sector, the Fund will also actively address the solar potential for the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector.

Talking about this transaction, Sameer Tirkar, Principal Climate Finance for responsAbility, added, “we believe strong partnerships can lower the barriers to green financing. We are bullish on the potential of India’s solar sector, especially adoption by Commercial & Industrial (C&I) off-takers in who will be looking to minimise operational costs, now more than ever before. Fourth Partner has carved a leadership position and a commendable client base, we are excited to enable their current phase of expansion.”

Fourth Partner Energy commenced International operations in FY20, with South and South East Asia being focus markets. The company has also forayed into solar-powered EV Charging infrastructure through its 50:50 JV with leading commercial EV fleet operator, Lithium Urban Technologies.

About Fourth Partner Energy:

Fourth Partner Energy is India’s leading solar energy solutions firm focusing on building and financing solar projects across the private, public sectors for commercial, industrial and institutional entities.

It is a full-services Renewable Energy Services Company (RESCO) that offers end-to-end capabilities including Evaluation, Design, Planning, Procurement, Construction, Operation, Maintenance and Financing of critical solar infrastructure. Fourth Partner Energy is backed by TPG’s The Rise Fund which invested $70mn in the Hyderabad headquartered firm, in June 2018. 

With an operational portfolio of 400 MW installed capacity across both distributed and open access portfolios, the firm has now embarked on its journey to expand beyond distributed solar and into a variety of clean energy solutions, including EV charging infrastructure, storage and floating solar.

The firm has a pan-India presence with its headquarters in Hyderabad and offices in 10 other cities including Pune, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Ranchi. It has executed projects for marquee clients like Hindustan Unilever, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Walmart, Schneider, Skoda, Ferrero, Airtel, D-Mart and ICICI Bank.

About responsAbility Investments:

A leading impact asset manager with a 16-year track record, responsAbility manages over USD 3 bn of assets invested in 450 fully ESG-compliant high-impact companies across 90 emerging economies. Since the company’s inception in 2003, responsAbility-managed funds have disbursed USD 10 bn in private debt and private equity to companies in the sectors of climate finance, sustainable food and financial inclusion whose business models directly support the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

responsAbility is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, and has local offices in Bangkok, Geneva, Hong Kong, Lima, Mumbai, Nairobi, Oslo, Paris and Tbilisi. Owned by various reputable Swiss and international financial institutions, private investors and its own employees, responsAbility is registered with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA.

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