Greenko Energy raises Rs 5,700 crore from GIC, Orix and founders

Hyderabad-based Greenko Energy Holdings has raised $700 million (about Rs 5,700 crore) equity funding from the founders, along with GIC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and Japanese financial group Orix Corporation. The company said it had signed definitive agreements for a primary equity raise of $700 million, in an official statement issued on Thursday. There was no change in the shareholding structure after this investment, it added.

The company said the investment would be used towards capital expenditure in pumped storage projects, which will have storage capacity of more than 25 Gigawatt hours (GWh). This would enable 45 billion units of dispatchable carbon-free energy (CFE). Pumped energy storage uses the gravitational energy of water for energy storage.

Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty, chief executive officer and managing director of Greenko, said, “This equity commitment from the existing shareholders reinforces their trust in our vision. Greenko is leading India’s energy transition through implementation of large scale and long-term solutions, and it continues to deliver long-term value to all stakeholders. CFE is helping accelerate industrial decarbonisation, enhancing the green quotient of the Indian grid and development of green molecules and chemicals at a competitive cost.” 

In a public statement, Ang Eng Seng, chief investment officer of infrastructure at GIC, said, “Cost-effective long duration energy storage is key to unlocking widespread adoption of renewable energy, accelerating India’s energy transition plans, and spurring the global transition to a net-zero economy. Greenko is uniquely positioned as the leading market provider of long-duration energy projects through its pumped storage projects.”

Greenko was founded in 2006 by Chalamalasetty along with Mahesh Kolli, who is currently president and joint managing director at the company.

Greenko claims to be India’s first dispatchable renewables company. The company has lately widened its offering beyond traditional green energy projects. It recently launched the country’s first integrated green energy storage project, which will offer energy storage solutions through its cloud platform under a unique model to bulk energy users.

Besides, it has also commenced construction of 5.2 Gw integrated renewable energy storage project in Andhra Pradesh. The project has storage of 10 GWh, 3 Gw of solar and 0.5 Gw of wind power. The project already has private investors such as ArcelorMittal, Ayana Renewable and tie up with the Solar Energy Corporation of India for sale of power to Bihar, Rajasthan, and Damodar Valley Corporation, the company had said earlier.

Kolli had earlier told Business Standard that the energy storage system deployed by Greenko for this project was an ‘off stream closed loop pump hydro’ system. “It is half the cost of battery storage and more sustainable. India would need close to 50 GWh of pump hydro to meet the storage needs in tandem with the growth plans of solar and wind energy.” 

Greenko has been in this business since 2017 and now energy plus storage is, if not cheaper but at par with the non-pithead coal-based power,” Kolli had said last year.

Last month, Greenko emerged the lowest bidder for the first green hydrogen manufacturing project by an oil refinery in the country.