France-based solar developer Technique Solaire has acquired a 34 MW ground-mounted solar project in Uttar Pradesh from the Jakson Group and businessman Ravi Goyal.

With this acquisition, Technique Solaire’s operational solar capacity in India reaches 68 MW.

The project, commissioned in 2017, has a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation.

The solar project produces 49,500 MWh of green energy annually, meeting the electricity needs of 78,383 local people.

The acquisition is the company’s first external growth operation. Technique Solaire aims to have a 1 GW operational solar capacity by the end of 2024. The company expects to acquire more operational solar projects in France and across the globe.

Manu Bishnoi, India Director at Technique Solaire, said, “We hope this transaction is just the beginning of a promising partnership with the Jakson Group, which now wants to focus on the development of new photovoltaic power projects and redeploy its own funds on projects under construction.”

Commenting on the acquisition, Edouard Dazard, Director of Financing at Technique Solaire, said, ” For us, India is a country with high strategic stakes, and our objective is to acquire other projects there in order to hold several hundred MW by the end of 2024.”

Last year, Technique Solaire commissioned a 20 MW solar project in Maharashtra. The ground-mounted solar project is built on 40 hectares of land near two remote areas of Ratnapur and Manwath in the Parbhani district.

In August this year,  JLTM Energy, the Indian subsidiary of Technique Solaire, signed a corporate power purchase agreement with Alstom to build a 300 kW rooftop solar system at a factory in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

According to Mercom’s 9M and Q3 2021 Solar Funding and M&A Report, in 9M 2021, large-scale solar project acquisition activity was up 129%, with 55.5 GW being acquired compared to 24.3 GW in 9M 2020. A total of 15.8 GW of solar projects were acquired in Q3 2021.