Last week, both parties signed a firm agreement that will see Gentari take control of a 2.2 GW portfolio of assets. This is the first time Brookfield will be monetising part of its green energy portfolio after building, acquiring and operating the assets for over five years.
Gentari is expected to seek regulatory approvals in the next few days before any formal announcement. Its portfolio in India will double from the current 2 GW capacity. This will be its second acquisition in India this year. Gentari had bought the 185 MW solar power portfolio of Finnish firm Fortum Oyj in May.
The assets that Brookfield is selling are almost equally split between operational and under-construction projects. While 1 GW is operational, another 1.2 GW is in the pipeline, expected to be completed within the next 18 months.
These projects are in four clusters — 500 MW in Rajasthan, 50 MW in Gujarat, 300 MW in South India and 80 MW in Madhya Pradesh.
The final deal value, which could go up to $1 billion in enterprise value, is linked to certain earnouts or deferred payments that are expected to kick in. These are related to carbon credits getting realised in the 500 MW Rajasthan plant built along with NTPC Renewables, said one of the officials involved.Currently, the Canadian investor has about 20 GW of wind and solar assets in operation or under development across India. That translates to close to $3 billion assets under management (AUM), which the firm wants to more than treble to $10 billion in the next four years.Brookfield declined to comment. Gentari didn’t respond to queries.
Brookfield had monetised its road portfolio in 2022 by selling it to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) in a deal valued at Rs 9,375 crore ($1.2 billion).
ET first reported on May 29 that Gentari was the frontrunner to acquire a part of the India renewables portfolio of Brookfield. The sale process, which saw rival bids from ONGC, Actis LLP’s BluPine Energy, Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus Fund’s Sekura Energy, Torrent Power, JSW Group and UAE’s Masdar Energy, was managed by JP Morgan, which had been mandated earlier this year to run the sale process.
Gentari, which has a global renewable energy capacity of 3.6 GW, has most of its operational assets in India. It has 422 MW capacity in Australia and 100 MW capacity in Malaysia.
Brookfield entered the Indian renewables space in 2019 with the acquisition of wind farms from Hyderabad-based Axis Energy Ventures for Rs 500 crore. It also picked up 51% in CleanMax Enviro in 2023, with an equity investment of Rs 3,000 crore. It also has bankrolled Vineet Mittal’s Avaada Energy for its green hydrogen and ammonia ventures.
In India, Gentari subsidiary Amplus Solar manages 1.9 GW of solar power for over 400 commercial and industrial (C&I) customers, with an additional 300 MW of projects nearing final investment decision.
In July, Gentari and renewable energy provider ReNew Energy Global formed a joint venture housing 5 GW of renewable capacity in India. The collaboration follows Gentari’s initial investment for a 49% equity stake in ReNew’s 403 MW Peak Power project in May.
Gentari is also involved in developing clean ammonia projects in India, independently and with partners, targeting commercial production of more than 5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) before 2030. Last October, Gentari invested $1.5 billion for a 30% stake in AM Green Ammonia Holdings BV (AMG Ammonia). That’s the green ammonia platform of AM Green set up by Greenko Energy Holdings, a renewable energy company.
Brookfield, one of the early infrastructure investors in India, has deployed about $25 billion in the country in the last 10 years. Its major investments include Rs 25,215 crore in Jio Towers, a Rs 21,000 crore deal to buy ATC India and a Rs13,000 crore buyout of East-West Pipeline (formerly Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure).
After a lull lasting months, M&As in renewable energy independent power producers (IPPs) are again gathering steam. ONGC and NTPC Renewables are closing in on Ayana Renewable Power, the 4GW renewable energy platform of government-owned National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), ET reported last week.
India will require an investment of around $200 billion to establish renewable energy (RE) generating assets by 2030, said a recent report by Nomura. In FY24, the country auctioned 40 GW of RE capacity. However, to meet the country’s ambitious goal of 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, the pace of RE auctions will need to increase significantly — as much as 60 GW of capacity each year, it said.
Power and renewable energy minister Pralhad Joshi said recently that banks and financial institutions have committed funding of around $386 billion (Rs 32.45 lakh crore) for setting up renewable energy generation capacity in India.
India’s total renewable energy installed capacity surged by 24.2 GW (13.5%), reaching 203.18 GW in October 2024, up from 178.98 GW in October 2023.
