In the first quarter (Q1) of the calendar year (CY) 2019, the Indian solar sector received investments totaling $2.8 billion (~₹195.4 billion), according to Mercom’s Q1 2019 India Solar Market Quarterly Update. The figure includes both manufacturing funding (upstream) and project funding (downstream) investments.

The investments in Q1 2019 were 12% lower year-over-year (YoY) when compared to $3.17 billion (~₹221.2 billion) in Q1 2018. Investments increased by 55% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) when compared to $1.81 billion (~₹126.3 billion) invested in the Indian solar sector in Q4 2018.

Both upstream and downstream investments surged QoQ mainly due to an increase in corporate funding, of approximately $800 million (~₹56 billion) in Q1 2019, a substantial increase compared to $217 million (~₹15billion) in Q4 2018.

The total investments in downstream activity reached almost $989 million (~₹69.04 billion), up by 4% compared to $951 million (~₹66.3 billion) in Q4 2018.

India’s domestic manufacturing expansion activity in the solar sector witnessed significant growth in Q1 2019 with the domestic manufacturers like Vikram Solar, Renewsys India, Saatvik Green Energy, Super Sun Solar, and Shivam Photovoltaic increasing manufacturing capacity by approximately 1 GW. According to Mercom’s Q1 2019 India Solar Market Quarterly Update, Indian manufacturers are doing better after the safeguard duty imposition on imported modules from China and Malaysia.

Mercom recently reported that in CY 2018, investments in the Indian solar sector totaled $9.8 billion compared to 2017, in which almost $11.5 billion flowed into the Indian solar sector. 2018 witnessed a decline of 15% in investments YoY primarily due to decline in solar installations.

At the end of Q1 2019, India’s installed solar capacity stood at ~30 GW.

Deal Highlights

CleanMax Solar announced in March that its subsidiary CleanMax IPP had received ₹1.58 billion ($22.6 million) in a loan from PTC India Financial Services to refinance loans from KKR Financial Services (KKR NBFC).

In February 2019, ReNew Power secured fresh debt financing of up to $350 million (~₹24.91 billion) from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

In March 2019, the Asian Development Bank announced that it would invest $50 million (~₹3.5 billion) in Indian renewable energy independent power producer Avaada Energy Private Limited.

In March 2019, ReNew Power successfully concluded a green bond issue of $375 million (~₹26 billion). Barclays (B&D), Goldman Sachs, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, and YES Bank were the book runners for the green bond issue.

There were several project m&a transactions in Q1 as well led by Actis’ acquisition of 194 MW of operating solar projects from shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital through Sprng Energy. Its renewable energy platform in India.

Complete funding and m&a transaction list and details can be found in Mercom’s Q1 Solar Funding and M&A Report.

Image credit: Sineng Electric