India's Kiran Energy gets $50m from PE consortium

According to Bloomberg, Kiran Energy is building a 20 megawatt solar plant in Gujarat and has a 5 MW plant in Rajasthan. At its Gujarat facility, the company is using panels made by Sharp Corp., which has backing from the State Bank of India and Mizuho Financial Group.

Of the investors, Argonaut Ventures has previously invested in US panel maker Solyndra, which collapsed in September.

Green energy solutions has been a popular investment area for private equity in India. According to research firm Venture Intelligence, in the third quarter of 2011, energy attracted $823 million across 16 transactions. Top investments in the space include Goldman Sachs' $204 million commitment to ReNew Wind Power, and IDFC Private Equity and the International Finance Corp. (IFC) both reaffirmed their commitment to India's clean energy sector in two separate deals in August.

These transactions followed a UN Environment Program report in July that showed that emerging economies likes India, Brazil and China invested more in renewable energy last year than their developed counterparts, including the UK and US.

That report found India to be the world's eighth top market for renewable energy investments in 2010, with total transaction values rising 25% year-on-year to $3.8 billion. The bulk of money went into wind projects, the report noted, which garnered $2.3 billion worth of investments, followed by $400 million each for solar, and biomass and waste-to-energy.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Cleantech
• Venture
• Venture
• India
• Cleantech
• Bessemer Venture Partners
• NSR New Silk Route Partners