Japanese trading and investment company Mitsui & CO Limited (Mitsui) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Indian engineering, procurement, and construction company (EPC), Mahindra Susten, to develop and operate distributed solar projects in India jointly.

Mitsui has acquired a 49% stake in Marvel Solren Private Limited, a Mahindra company that already has a portfolio of 16 MW of distributed solar.

Kazumasa Nakai, chief operating officer of Mitsui’s Infrastructure Projects Business, said: “We are delighted to partner with Mahindra and contribute to India’s shift to a low-carbon society. Utilizing Mitsui’s global network, together we aim to expand the business to 150 MW by 2023.”

Mitsui’s portfolio of power assets has a combined capacity of 10.4GW, with renewable energy accounting for 15% of the portfolio. Mitsui aims to increase this share to 30% by 2030 and contribute to the creation of an eco-friendly society.

Mahindra Susten is the solar EPC arm of the Mahindra Group. The company has a 3.2 GW portfolio, of which 1.5 GW have been executed, and over 1.7 GW are under development.

Basant Jain, chief executive officer of Mahindra Susten, said: “We are excited to partner with Mitsui on our path to becoming the most admired brand in sustainable infrastructure and renewable energy. This collaboration between two giants will help us target opportunities in the commercial and industrial sectors, which are going to play a key role in meeting India’s ambitious renewable energy targets.”

Mitsui has been active in investing in distributed solar companies. In Feb 2019, Mitsui along with International Finance Corporation, Equinor Energy Ventures (Equinor), Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), and UAE-based Adenium Energy Capital (Adenium), invested $65 million in Yellow Door Energy (Yellow Door), a UAE-based solar developer in a Series A financing round to scale its investments in solar energy and energy efficiency solutions in the Middle East and Africa. According to Yellow Door, this is one of Middle East’s largest private placements in distributed solar.

In 2017, Mitsui had announced plans to develop small-scale solar projects in India by investing $9.11 million (~₹582 million) in OMC Power, a rural power company that finances, builds and operates small solar power projects with the mini-grid distribution.