Lightsource Renewable Energy and UK Climate Investments have entered into a solar partnership to fund the development, acquisition and ownership of large-scale assets in India.
While Lightsource Renewable Energy is a UK-based solar power producer, UK Climate Investments is part of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets’ Green Investment Group.
The partnership will target the greenfield development and purchase of utility scale solar assets that are already operational in India.
Lightsource and UK Climate Investments will work with the shared objective of seeding a platform that can open up high-quality de-risked investment opportunities in the Indian solar market.
Through Lightsource, the partnership will mobilise the deployment of institutional capital on a large scale.
As per the terms of the partnership agreement, Lightsource will take care of operations and asset management services for the partnership in the long-term
The partnership’s seed asset will be the 60MWp project of Lightsource in Maharashtra state which is anticipated to provide clean power to about 20,000 homes upon its completion. The solar project has also reached a financial close following the partnership announcement.
Lightsource CEO Nick Boyle said: “The UK Climate Investments partnership, and our first Indian project reaching financial close, are significant milestones in the growth of Lightsource.
“This project is a testament to the strength of the team we have in India, supported by a global project finance and operational capability, that have made this project a success.
“UK Climate Investments are a fantastic partner for us to seed the foundations of a large solar and smart energy investment and operating platform in India.”
UK Climate Investments will handle 49% of the investment needed for the construction of the seed asset. It has designated up to £30m for the project and its partnership with Lightsource to develop and build up to a total of 300MW of solar projects in India.
It expects funding from third parties and commercial project finance debt to support the initial and future projects.
Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets global head Martin Stanley said: “This first investment for UK Climate Investments will provide the necessary sponsor support for the first project in a very promising series of potential solar investments in India, in line with UKCI’s investment mandate.
“Working with the UK’s leading solar developer, we will look to stimulate a positive transformational impact by bringing industry-leading best practices of risk mitigation and management to the local market.”
Image: Lightsource, UK Climate Investments to partner on Indian solar projects. Photo: courtesy of Green Investment Group 2017.