UK-based investor Actis has completed the acquisition of two solar projects with a total capacity of 400 MW from ACME Solar Holdings Limited.

The deal is expected to be valued at nearly ₹25 billion (~$334 million).  ACME confirmed the news to Mercom. The projects have been acquired by Actis Lifelong Infrastructure Fund (ALLIF) and are located in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. An executive at the company further informed that the acquired capacity consists of three projects of 50 MW each in Andhra Pradesh and one 250 MW project in Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa Solar Park.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, ACME has around 2.1 GW of large-scale solar projects in-operations, and approximately 1.75 GW of projects are under the development pipeline.

Actis is an investor in growth markets across Africa, Asia, and Latin America in private equity, energy, infrastructure, and real estate space.

Sprng Energy is the renewable energy platform set up in India by Actis, and has 444 MW of operational large-scale solar projects and 500 MW of projects under development, according to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker.

In April last year, Actis had acquired 194 MW of operating solar power assets from Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital (SP Infra) through Sprng Energy, its renewable energy platform in India. Out of the 194 MW, projects totaling 144 MW are located in Telangana and a 50 MW project in Rajasthan.

As per Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2020 Solar Funding and M&A Report, solar project acquisition activity was up in 1H 2020 with 14.7 GW compared to 11.6 GW acquired in the same period last year. Only about 3 GW of solar projects were acquired in Q2 2020 compared to 5.7 GW in Q2 2019.

The solar industry saw a stream of consolidation activity this quarter (Q3 2020), beginning with NextEnergy Capital’s institutional solar fund NextPower III making its first acquisition in India, a 27.4 MW solar project in Odisha from IBC SOLAR Energy GmbH. This was followed by NTPC’s offer to acquire 1 GW of operational solar projects across India. Ayana Renewable Power, backed by the U.K.-based CDC Group, recently acquired First Solar’s two solar projects with a capacity of 40 MW.

Image credit: Amp Energy

Update: This article has been corrected to reflect the correct deal value which was erroneously published as ₹23 billion.