ReNew Power, an independent power producer, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 260 MWac of operational solar projects in Telangana. In addition, the company also signed an agreement to acquire a 99 MW hydropower project located in Uttarakhand.

The company acquired solar and hydropower projects with a total capacity of 359 MW for ₹28.5 billion (~$384 million). The projects are expected to generate earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBIDTA) of about ₹3.8 billion (~$50.7 million) to ₹4 billion (~$53.4 million) annually.

ReNew Power said the solar projects have been operating for around four years and have 25-year power purchase agreements (PPA) with Northern Power Distribution Company of Telangana and Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana.

The acquired projects are located close to the company’s existing solar projects in Telangana that would provide opportunities to increase productivity, reduce operation and maintenance costs, the company said in a press statement. The company would also use its monitoring and analytical technology to boost the output of these projects.

ReNew Power also acquired L&T Uttaranchal Hydropower from L&T Power Development, a subsidiary of the engineering and construction company L&T. L&T Uttaranchal Hydropower owns the 99 MW Singoli Bhatwari Hydroelectric Project. The project became operational in December 2020 and is expected to have a remaining life of around 35 years. The hydropower project is expected to have a net billed generation of 360 million units annually. With this acquisition, the project operations team of the hydropower project would also join the team of ReNew Power.

Earlier this month, the independent power producer signed a PPA with Solar Energy Corporation of India to supply 400 MW of round-the-clock (RTC) renewable power.The 25-year PPA has a tariff of ₹2.90 (~$0.039)/kWh for the first year. The company said adding a hydropower project- with a storage capacity of 2-3 hours – would add 200-300 MWh low-cost hydro storage to its portfolio.

Commenting on the acquisition, Sumant Sinha, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of ReNew Power, said, “the hydropower acquisition strengthens our ability to provide reliable and dispatchable power to the grid, which complements our solar and wind assets. The acquisition of solar assets in Telangana and the hydropower project in Uttarakhand, and the recent 200 MW MSEDCL auction win takes our commissioned and contracted capacity over 10 GW and sets up on the path to attain 18 GW capacity by 2025.”

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, ReNew Power has 2.3 GW of operational solar capacity, and about 2.8 GW of solar projects are under development pipeline as of June 30, 2021.

Globally, the solar project acquisitions in the first half of 2021 reached 39.3 GW compared to 14.7 GW acquired in the same period last year. Project acquisition activity was at a record high in the second quarter of 2021, with over 24 GW of solar projects acquired compared to 14.6 GW in Q1 2021, according to Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2021 Solar Funding and M&A Report.