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$1.2 Trillion Needed for Battery Storage to Support Renewables by 2034: Report

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					</table>The Competition Commission of India has approved Gurugram-based clean energy solutions provider <a href="https://www.gentari.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gentari Renewables India</a>’s proposal to acquire 21 Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) of renewable power generation projects and holding companies of SPVs.
The proposed transaction involves the acquisition of the entire ownership interest held by the Brookfield Group in the target SPVs comprising the assets of TerraForm, Axis, Electryone, NTPC, and NHPC.
The target entities are part of the Brookfield Group and are engaged in generating and selling wind and solar power.
The target SPVs do not have business operations outside India. The acquisition will enable Brookfield to sell and monetize a part of its renewable energy portfolio in India that is housed under certain limited life funds.
The acquisition involves acquiring SPVs in three buckets—TerraForm (15 SPVs), NTPC and NHPC (3 SPVs), and Axis and Electryone (3 SPVs).
Gentari will acquire ownership interest in SPVs held by Brookfield by procuring equity shares and compulsorily convertible debentures in two tranches. The shareholding of the target SPVs of TerraForm, Axis, Electryone, and NTPC are proposed to be acquired in tranche one, and the shareholding of the NHPC’s SPVs in tranche two.
Gentari is an indirect subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), a Malaysian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. Gentari is focused on clean energy solutions through renewable energy, hydrogen production, and green mobility.
In December 2024, the company, through its subsidiary Gentari Renewables India Castor One, <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/gentari-to-supply-650-mw-rtc-wind-solar-energy-to-am-green-ammonia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executed</a> a power purchase agreement with AM Green Ammonia India to supply 650 MW of round-the-clock renewable energy for its upcoming green ammonia facilities.
Gentari is setting up 2,400 MW of combined wind and solar energy capacity in India to fulfill the agreement, integrated with 350 MW/2,100 MWh of energy storage.
Last November, Gentari Renewables India Utilities 2 was among the winners of SJVN’s auction to set up 1,200 MW of wind-solar hybrid power projects. The company <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/gentari-sjvn-hybrid-power-auction-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quoted</a> ₹3.19 (~$0.0379)/kWh to win a capacity of 400 MW.

CCI Approves Gentari’s Proposal to Acquire Brookfield’s Stake in 21 SPVs

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					</table>From: <a href="https://mercomcapital.com/funding-and-ma-roundup-nanograf-raises-65-million/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mercom Capital Group</a>
NanoGraf, a battery materials company with patented silicon-anode technology, has <a href="https://mercomcapital.com/nanograf-raises-funding-for-advanced-battery-material-technology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised</a> $65 million in a Series B funding round. The funding round was co-led by Volta Energy Technologies and CC Industries. With the additional funding, NanoGraf plans to accelerate the development of its advanced battery technologies and expand its production capabilities to meet the increasing demand for high-performance batteries in various industries.
Toyota Tsusho Corporation, the trading arm of the Toyota Group, <a href="https://mercomindia.com/toyota-renewables-developer-carbon-neutral-goals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inked</a> an agreement with Japan-based renewable energy developer SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group, to acquire an 85% stake in the latter. The transaction will help the clean energy businesses of the two companies by accelerating their carbon-neutral initiatives. Under the agreement, both companies would jointly develop renewable energy and electric power supply-demand adjustment, among other measures, to achieve carbon neutrality in their respective operations.
Petronas, a Malaysian state-owned oil company, announced that it&#8217;s clean energy subsidiary Gentari Renewables Australia had <a href="https://mercomcapital.com/gentari-acquires-australian-solar-developer-wirsol-energy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">completed</a> the purchase of Australian renewables firm Wirsol Energy, which has solar and battery energy storage integration capabilities and a pipeline of development projects. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Cylib, a German battery recycling startup, has announced that it has<a href="https://mercomcapital.com/german-battery-recycling-startup-cylib-raises-8-5-million/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> raised</a> €8 million (~$8.6 million) in a seed extension round, bringing the total seed round amount to €11.6 million (~$12.6 million). World Fund, a climate-tech venture capital firm, led the investment round with participation from 10x Founders and existing investors VSquared Ventures, Speedinvest, and business angels Kai Hansen and Karim Jalbout.
Indian electric vehicle startup FreshBus has <a href="https://mercomindia.com/ev-freshbus-raises-%e2%82%b9260-million-from-ixigo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secured</a> ₹260 million (~$3 million) in seed funding from ixigo, an AI-based travel app, to launch inter-city electric bus services across India. The company will utilize the funds to offer an alternative for affordable and environment-friendly inter-city bus travel. FreshBus will commence its services from Hyderabad and Bengaluru by launching 24 electric buses and announcing its first operational routes in March 2023. Over the next 2-3 years, the startup plans to scale up its operations to over 1,000 buses pan-India.
ChargerHelp!, a company specializing in operations, maintenance, and workforce development for the electric vehicle (EV) industry, has <a href="https://www.chargerhelp.com/post/17-5m-series-a-will-support-growth-essential-to-ev-infrastructure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secured</a> $17.5 million in Series A funding. The financing round was led by Blue Bear Capital, with participation from Aligned Climate Capital, Exelon Corporation, as well as previous investors such as Energy Impact Partners and non-sibi ventures. The funding will help the company double down on its commitment to reliable EV charging.
For reports and trackers on funding and M&amp;A transactions in solar, energy storage, smart grid, and efficiency sectors, click <a href="https://mercomcapital.com/clean-energy-reports/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
Read last week&#8217;s funding <a href="https://mercomindia.com/funding-and-ma-roundup-cirba-solutions-raises/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">roundup</a>.

Funding and M&A Roundup: NanoGraf Raises $65 Million for Battery Technology

Amplus Solar, a subsidiary of Malaysian oil and gas conglomerate <a href="https://www.petronas.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Petronas</a>, and <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Microsoft Corporation</a> signed a long-term renewable energy agreement for a 100 MW solar project which Amplus is developing in Rajasthan, India.
Amplus was <a href="https://mercomindia.com/petronas-acquires-solar-company-amplus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acquired</a> by Petronas in 2019 from its New York-based investor, I Squared Capital.
The two companies are also collaborating to co-innovate digital solutions that would support the decarbonization efforts of Petronas.
The collaboration aims to bolster environmental sustainability by developing a Digital Sustainability Core platform, a first for the global energy sector. Petronas said the platform would help the collaboration establish a unified data hub to record, report, and reduce carbon emissions.
The two companies plan to use the technology and build an intelligent platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and comprehensive data.
Senior Vice President of Project Delivery and Technology at Petronas, Bacho Pilong, said, &#8220;The collaboration fortifies our common commitment to leverage digitalization and technology to achieve sustainability&#8217;s triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. &#8221;
To balance the environment, social, and governance elements in its approach to sustainability, Petronas aims to go carbon neutral by 2050. The oil and gas major has also accelerated measures to reduce its Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse emissions.
Microsoft&#8217;s Malaysia Managing Director, K Raman, said, &#8220;The strategic partnership will not only contribute to our sustainability goals, but it also presents us the opportunity to apply the latest digital technology to support Petronas&#8217; transition to a more sustainable future.&#8221;
Intending to go carbon neutral by 2030, Microsoft has pledged to power all of its operations with 100% renewable energy supply by 2025, including its data centers, buildings, and campuses. Microsoft <a href="https://mercomindia.com/microsoft-solar-deal-bengaluru/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">completed</a> its first renewable energy deal in India in 2018 when it agreed to purchase 3 MW of solar-power from Atria Power for its new office building in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Amplus Solar was among the top five rooftop solar installers in India in 2021, according to Mercom&#8217;s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-leaderboard-2022-market-shares-and-profiles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Market Leaderboard 2022</a>.

Microsoft to Buy Power from 100 MW Solar Project Being Built by Amplus Solar

<a href="https://amplussolar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Amplus</a>, the Indian arm of Petronas (Petroliam Nasional Bhd), a Malaysian government-owned oil and gas company, has acquired 100 MW of solar assets from <a href="https://www.acme.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ACME</a> Solar. The deal was valued at ₹8 billion (~$109 million), an executive privy to the development told Mercom.
This 100 MW project, located in Karnataka&#8217;s Pavagada Solar Park, was developed under the National Solar Mission (Phase-2 Batch-2). Commissioned in 2018, the project comes with a tariff of ₹4.79 ($0.065)/kWh.
It is ACME Solar&#8217;s second asset sale to date. In August, the company <a href="https://mercomindia.com/actis-acquires-solar-projects-acme/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sold</a> 400 MW of solar assets to U.K.-based investor <a href="https://www.act.is/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Actis</a> in a deal estimated at around ₹25 billion (~$334 million). Projects acquired by Actis Lifelong Infrastructure Fund are located in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
With the completion of this deal, ACME would have raised close to ₹33 billion ($450 million) this year through the sale of solar assets. According to Mercom&#8217;s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/india-solar-project-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">India Solar Project Tracker</a>, ACME has around 2.1 GW of large-scale solar projects in operation, and another 1.75 GW in the development pipeline.
Amplus manages a 650 MW of green energy generation asset base, including operational and under-construction capacities. It also undertakes renewable power generation projects on behalf of its clients.
Headquartered in Singapore, Amplus was <a href="https://mercomindia.com/petronas-acquires-solar-company-amplus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">acquired</a> by Petronas last year from its New York-based investor; I Squared Capital.
The company currently holds a portfolio of 200 commercial and industrial customers, including Yamaha, Cisco, Reckitt Benckiser, Schlumberger, Carlsberg, ABB, TVS, and government entities like the Indian Railways and Delhi Metro.
Mecom Capital Group&#8217;s Q2 2020 Solar Funding and M&amp;A <a href="https://mercomcapital.com/total-corporate-funding-for-solar-sector-reaches-4-5-billion-in-1h-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Report</a> shows that in the first half of 2020, 14.7 GW of solar projects got acquired. Oil and gas majors were the major acquirers of solar assets and accounted for about 6.5 GW (45%) of acquisitions during the first half of the year.
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Image credit: Amplus Solar

Petronas’ Indian Arm Acquires 100 MW of Solar Assets from ACME at ₹8 Billion

Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company, <a href="https://www.petronas.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PETRONAS</a>, has announced the acquisition of Singapore-based <a href="https://amplussolar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Amplus Energy Solutions Pte Ltd</a> (M+). In a media statement issued by PETRONAS, the company stated that it has entered into an agreement with I Squared capital to acquire 100% interest in M+.
M+ is backed by I Squared Capital, an independent global infrastructure asset manager that invests in energy, utilities, telecom and transport in North America, Europe, and high growth economies in Asia and Latin America. The firm has over $13 billion of assets under management. M+ focuses on commercial and industrial customers in India, to provide them with rooftop and ground-mounted solar power. The company has a portfolio of over 500 MW capacity under operation and development, with 275 projects across 20 states in the country.
Commenting on the transaction, Gautam Bhandari, founding partner at I Squared Capital stated, “Under I Squared Capital, M+ grew by over 400% annually to become a world-class, end-to-end company serving the corporates in Asia to reduce their greenhouse gases and combat climate change. We believe that M+ will continue to play a leading role in building a greener future thanks to an outstanding management team and wish them and PETRONAS the best in their future endeavors.”
The acquisition, which is expected to be completed this month, is part of PETRONAS’ strategy to enter the international renewable energy market. Recently, the company announced a collaboration with UiTM Holdings Sdn Bhd, the investment arm of Universiti Teknologi Mara, to jointly develop large-scale solar photovoltaic power projects and on-campus energy optimization and solar rooftop projects.
Mercom’s latest report on <a href="https://mercomcapital.com/product/q1-2019-solar-funding-and-ma-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Q1 2019 Solar funding and M&amp;A</a>, covers the growing global trend of oil and gas majors coming forward to fund solar companies and also acquire them. The companies leading this trend include BP, Shell, Engie, and Total among others.
PETRONAS President and Group Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said: “This acquisition reflects PETRONAS’ strategic intent to grow in the renewable energy space as part of our strategy to step out beyond oil and gas into the new energy business. This also represents our first international solar venture, and we look forward to providing energy solutions to our customers in these high growth energy markets.”
In August 2018, Sanjeev Agarwal, CEO of Amplus, in an <a href="https://mercomindia.com/amplus-interview-safeguard-impact-rooftop-solar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">interview</a> with Mercom had said that Amplus had a total portfolio of over 300 MW of operational and under construction solar capacity across 200 sites, and in 20 states in India. Out of the 300 MW, 280 MW had already been commissioned then.
In <a href="https://mercomindia.com/reliance-buys-88-percent-stake-kanoda/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jan 2019</a>, Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited (RIIHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of <a href="http://www.ril.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reliance Industries Limited</a>, announced entering into a binding agreement with Kanoda Energy Systems Private Limited (KESL) for the acquisition of equity shares for a cash consideration not exceeding ₹750 million (~$10.8 million). The said investment translates into 88 percent equity stake in KESL on a fully diluted basis. The total investment is likely to be completed by March 2020.

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