Norwegian climate fund backs India waste-to-energy player

SAEL (Sustainable and Affordable Energy for Life) started out in 1979 as a grain storage company and launched its first biomass power plant in 2006. It now claims to be India’s largest agri-waste-to-energy producer with more than 20 projects in operation or under construction. This portfolio also includes solar installations.

SAEL’s key environmental impact is in the reduction of emissions from the burning of crop stubble in northern India. The burning of crop stubble – needed for field maintenance – is said to result in some of the world’s worst air quality in terms of fine particle matter.

This is in turn linked with reduced soil quality, more potentially harmful chemicals-based farming practices, asthma, and decreased lung function among other health concerns. Norfund said its investment would contribute to a reduction of more than 2.8 million tons of CO2 emissions.

The plan is to expand the project portfolio from 600 megawatts to 3 gigawatts of annual production capacity over the next five years. To this end, Nortfund will support the development of 100 MW of new biomass and 400 MW of new solar capacity.

“By collecting the crop stubble to be used as fuel in our waste-to-energy plants, we contribute to combating one of our nation’s greatest health issues, while at the same time creating local employment and extra income for farmers and local entrepreneurs,” Jasbir Awla, chairman and a managing director of SAEL, said in a statement.

Norfund’s Climate Investment Fund was launched in May last year, capitalised with NOK 10b, which will be allocated in NOK 2bn tranches per year across five years. Each allocation will include NOK 1b from Norfund’s capital and NOK 1bn from Norway’s state budget.

The fund has described its core purpose is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by making investments “that would otherwise not be made” in renewable energy in developing countries with a large dependence on fossil fuel production. Target markets include India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

Investments will be primarily equity, with deployments typically ranging from USD 50m to USD 150m for 20% to 35% stakes. There have been three other investments in India to date. They include Enel Thar Solar (NOK 274.4m), Fourth Partner Energy (NOK 905m), and Koppal Narendra (NOK 55.1m).

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Industrials
• Cleantech
• Expansion
• India
• development finance institution
• energy
• Agriculture
• renewable energy