Bharat Forge, a Pune-based multinational infrastructure company, made an equity investment of ₹28.7 million (~$390,437) in renewable developer Avaada’s special purpose vehicle Avaada SataraMH (ASPL). The company invested the amount against the purchase of solar power from Avaada as a group captive user.

Earlier this month, Bharat Forge had invested ₹113.75 million (~$1.51 million) in the same special purpose vehicle, representing 8.98% of ASPL’s paid-up equity capital. With this latest investment, the company’s stake has risen to 11%.

Both these investments are part of Bharat Forge’s commitment to purchase 40.7 MW of solar power from the Avaada SPV. While the earlier equity investment stood for 32.5 MW of solar purchase, the latest accounts for the remaining 8.2 MW.

In its annual report for 2019-20, the company had announced that it has entered into an agreement for investing up to ₹185 million ($2.46 million) by way of equity to subscribe 26% of the stake of special purpose vehicle formed for the implementation and supply of solar power project for the company.

The special purpose vehicle Avaada SataraMH was incorporated in December 2019 and is engaged in developing renewable projects. It owns a 72.75 MW open access solar project spread across 528 acres of land in Varkute Village, located in Maharashtra’s Satara district.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, Avaada Energy’s solar portfolio includes 635 MW of commissioned projects and 1.96 GW under different development stages.

Avaada has seen a slew of investments this year.

Last month, Bharti Airtel said that it had signed an agreement to acquire equity shares in Avaada MHBuldhana Private Limited, another  SPV for owning and operating a captive solar power project in Maharashtra. Airtel acquired 5.20% equity shares for ₹45 million (~$606,990) through the subscription of 4,550,000 equity shares valued at ₹10 ($0.13) in tranches.

In October 2020, Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), a development finance institution and a KfW Group subsidiary, pledged $10 million in funding to Avaada Energy.

Earlier in September 2020, ADB announced that it had signed an agreement to invest $15 million in Avaada Energy to help expand the company’s solar generation capacity in the country. This investment would come from ADB’s Ordinary Capital Resources and Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP), with both funds investing $7.5 million each. This was ADB’s second investment in Avaada Energy after the first round of $50 million invested in April 2019.

Harsh Shukla is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.

More articles from Harsh Shukla.