In a span of just over a decade, Greenko has risen from strength to strength, rising steadily to the top of India’s Power Exchange.
Hyderabad-based company Greenko Inc. made headlines early this month when it attracted the largest FDI transaction in renewable energy space. Japan’s Orix corporation signed a pact with Greenko to invest $980 million to buy a stake in the renewable energy firm. The transaction of nearly $1 billion valued Greenko’s equity at about $5.75 billion.
The record FDI deal in India worth $1 billion with Orix Corp brought Greenko’s equity up to about $5.75 billion.
Acquiring 20% stake in the Indian company was not the sole objective of the deal as the Japanese firm will also integrate its entire wind power generation business in India with Greenko. The new venture will help Greenko to increase its current wind power operating capacity of 2,318 considerably. The deal was touted highly in government circles too as the Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant rated it as a “tremendous boost for Renewable 3.0 investment under PM’s Atmanirbhar vision”.
Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant rated the Greenko-Orix deal as a “tremendous boost for Renewable 3.0 investment under the PM’s Atmanirbhar vision”
Greenko – The Rising Star of India’s Power Exchange
It was no mean feat for a company like Greenko which made its foray into wind power in 2008 and solar power in 2017. Increasing cost of coal and environment and social threats behind developing hydropower plants has shifted focus of government and private agencies to renewable energy sources. Greenko has emerged as a major stakeholder in this sector.
Emerging as a major stakeholder among legacy players in the power sector is no mean feat for a company like Greenko which made its foray into wind in 2008 and solar in 2017.
Greenko, India’s first dispatchable renewables company, is also Asia’s largest private hydro power asset operator. Among India’s largest solar power producers, with 1916 MW capacity, it sits in No. 3 position behind Acme (2300 MW) and Adani (1970 MW). Greenko has 6.4 GW portfolio, (2.17 GW of which comes from solar power), and it’s developing over 40 GWh of pumped hydro storage projects across six Indian states. It claims to have generated 17 billion power units and electrified 3.9 million homes.
Spotlight on the rise of Greenko as the Poster-Boy of Indian Power Exchange.
In February, Greenko was also in news as it along with ReNew Power won bid in the Solar Energy Corporation of India’s 1.2 GW wind-solar power projects. It has also partnered with NTPC Ltd. to develop round-the-clock power supply solutions by integrating renewable energy resources and pumped storage projects. In July, Greenko added another feather in its cap as it won the bid to establish 1550 MW renewable energy plants in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district. The project also has a 500MW solar energy plant, the sixth largest in the world. Greenko was also a partner in developing world’s largest solar park, also in Kurnool, which has a capacity of 1,000 MW.
Watch: World’s Largest Solar Park by Greenko at Kurnool
Future Positioning
With such a high capacity to produce renewable energy, Greenko has set itself in a position where it can emerge the market leader in a country like India which wants to shed its dependency from coal and oil. India’s total power production in 2019 was 372,693 MW, out of which only 17% came from renewable energy sources, with 9.5% from solar power as its biggest shareholder. India’s current production of solar energy is 135GW. Prime minister Narendra Modi aims at increasing solar power generation to 220 GW by 2022. Modi had said early this month that the ‘One World, One Sun, One Grid’ project was aimed at clean energy supplies across nations.
Since solar energy is the highest contributor among renewable energy sources, Greenko can focus more on that and expand its market as the power demand increases. The company has made fast strides since it took over solar power business three years ago and has also strengthened its position as a key player in renewable energy sector. With new acquisitions and funding streamlined in next couple of years, it can topple the giants like Acme and Adani to grab the leading position in India’s solar power exchange.
With new acquisitions and funding streamlined in next couple of years, Greenko can topple the giants like Acme and Adani.
Foraying into lithium-ion battery business
The company is aiming at expanding its business in a field predominantly captured by Chinese companies. Greenko is targeting to invest around $1 billion in a battery storage business that has a plan to produce lithium-ion batteries. Greenko is also in talks with Japan’s NEC Corporation to acquire US-based NEC Energy Solution, who owns the property rights to produce megawatt-scale lithium-ion batteries. If it succeeds in producing these batteries at large scale, it can easily be the market leader of batteries used in electric vehicles.
