Brookfield's Andhra Pradesh project gets ₹7,500 crore REC funding

Brookfield is one of the world's largest investors in renewable power, with about 46 GW of installed capacity and a development pipeline of approximately 200 GW

State-owned non-banking financial company (NBFC) REC Ltd has sanctioned ₹7,500-crore funding for a Brookfield-owned project in Andhra Pradesh. Industry experts cite this as the single-largest sanction by REC for a private project.

 

Evren, a clean energy platform launched by Brookfield in India as a joint venture with Axis Energy, is developing a hybrid project of 1.04 gigawatt (Gw) at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh at an investment of ₹9,910 crore. Of this, REC will be providing ₹7,500 crore.

 

Brookfield owns 51.49 per cent in Evren, which has lined up over 3 Gw of projects in Andhra Pradesh, spread across Kurnool and Anantapur. 

Brookfield is one of the world’s largest investors in renewable power, with about 46 Gw of installed capacity and a development pipeline of around 200 Gw.

 

“Funding has been sanctioned for the Kurnool project. It is the single-largest sanction by REC for a private project so far,” said a government source aware of the development.

 

“This REC-funded project is the first one with state connectivity and a state power purchase agreement (PPA), which is classified as a Firm and Dispatchable Renewable Energy (FDRE) project. This brings in a lot of interest from international investment companies as Brookfield is the owner of this project through the Evren platform,” said an industry source.

 

In September this year, Andhra Pradesh information technology minister Nara Lokesh had visited the London office of the global private equity (PE) fund to meet its President Connor Teskey to discuss further investments in the state. The PE player has over $1 trillion in assets under management (AUM)

 

The aggressive renewable plans come as Lokesh also pitched for investments in artificial intelligence (AI)-ready data centres and real estate in the state.

 

Of the total 1,040 megawatt (Mw) project, 640 Mw will be wind and 400 Mw solar.

 

Evren is planning around 11 Gw of projects nationally, of which over 3 Gw worth around ₹50,000 crore will be in Kurnool and Anantapur.

 

“This 3 Gw project is the first phase of the company's plans in Andhra Pradesh. Of the total 11 Gw, around 9 Gw will be coming up in Andhra Pradesh,” he added.

 

According to media reports, Evren is also exploring opportunities across integrated solar module manufacturing, pumped storage, battery storage, e-mobility, and green ammonia in the state.

 

“This has been conceived well ahead of FDRE, as a bundling, balancing, and banking (BBB) project. When it was conceived, the wind-solar hybrid policy was also not in place. When it was conceived originally, the balancing was supposed to be done through the gas power plants available at that time. We have shifted that balancing act to battery storage to meet the leak requirements,” the industry source said.

 

Driven by an attractive Integrated Clean Energy Policy launched by the Chandrababu Naidu government in October 2024, which fast-tracked clearances and lined up fresh sops, the state grabbed a considerable share of the country’s renewable energy investments last year.

 

In renewables, major committed investments other than Brookfield include Tata Power (₹6,000 crore), NTPC Green (₹2.08 trillion), Vedanta’s Serentica (₹50,000 crore), and SAEL Industries (₹6,000 crore), among others.