Renewable energy investment in India beats Covid-19 slow down

• ByStartupStory     |    August 20, 2021

Renewable energy investment in India beats Covid-19 slow down, this has been revealed by a recent study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). In the 2020 – 21 fiscal year the investment was around US$6.4, but this year in April and June, the investment has surpassed the previous year as the figure stood at US$6.6. This pouring of funding if investments continue to flow at such a rate, there is a high chance of breaching the US$8.4 billion milestones achieved in the 2019-20 financial year before the pandemic struck. “Rebounding energy demand and a surge of commitments from banks and financial institutions to phase out fossil fuel financing are helping drive investment into Indian renewable energy infrastructure,” Vibhuti Garg, an energy economist at IEEFA, who co-authored the report, said.

The research note explores renewable energy investment trends during the 2020-21 fiscal and for the first four months of this ongoing financial year along with outlining the key deals made in both these periods. It also highlighted that the majority of the money flowed through acquisitions which helped in recycling the capital into new projects.
The largest of around 30 deals during the 2020-21 fiscal and in April to July period in 2021-22 financial year was SoftBank’s exit from the Indian renewable energy sector in May 2021 with a US$3.5 billion sale of assets to Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL). With this acquisition, AGEL became a major investor as well as the world’s largest solar developer. Other major deals included Engie’s acquisition by Edelweiss Infrastructure Yield Plus for $550 million, Acme’s acquisition by Scatec Solar for $400 million, and Fortum’s acquisition by Actis for $333 million.

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