Global Capital Fuels India's Growing Renewable Energy Sector for Tech Giants
A lending alliance of domestic and international banks are investing nearly US$600 million to bolster one of India’s largest developers of renewable energy for commercial and industrial customers such as data center hyperscalers and manufacturers expanding within that nation.
Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions has completed a round of about $575 million to help finance its wind and solar projects in India. Those projects will be tied into the nation’s central electric transmission system and support decarbonizing energy connections for large tech companies operating in India such as Apple, Iron Mountain and Alpha Nero.
“Renewable energy growth is entering a more evolved phase, driven by the convergence of corporate demand and global pools of long-term capital,” Nikunj Ghodawat, chief financial officer for Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions Ltd., said in a company statement. “For us, securing national and international financing of this scale requires careful structuring to balance risk, capital efficiency, and long-term project viability.”
Among the banks committed to the Clean Max financing round include Indian public sector banks and global financiers such as BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, HSBC, DBS Bank and Societe Generale. The loans are backed by power purchase agreements with commercial and industrial customers.
“We are delighted to mark another step forward in CleanMax’s journey of building large-scale, high-quality renewable assets,” company founder and managing director Kuldeep Jain said. “This brings together global capital and corporate decarbonization at scale. Multi-lender collaborations allow projects to be executed at scale while providing reliable solutions for the commercial and industrial sector.”
Earlier this month, Apple and CleanMax announced a joint co-investment strategy aimed at decarbonizing commercial and industrial energy sectors through larger-scale renewable energy deployment. Apple has expanded its manufacturing footprint in India, while others such as Google, Uber, Amazon and Microsoft are committing through infrastructure growth in the nation.
Data center developer Iron Mountain also this month announced its partnership with CleanMax to develop solar and wind generation to power data centers in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.
United Arab Emirates-based luxury retail and residential shopfitting contractor Alpha Nero partnered with Clean Max to complete a 450-kW solar project powering its UAE facilities.
“At a time when regulatory frameworks, investor expectations, and client demands are all converging around measurable environmental performance, this move ensures we are aligned with national priorities while setting a benchmark for what sustainable manufacturing can look like within the luxury fit-out sector,” Alpha Nero CEO and founder Simon Hacker said in April, shortly after the solar installation was completed.
India is the world’s third largest electricity consumer and ranks third in renewable energy installed capacity, behind only the U.S. and China. The country, also like the U.S. and China, is racing to install power generation capacity ready to meet fast-paced digital infrastructure demand including artificial intelligence, cloud-based computing and industrial automation.
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About the Author
Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
Rod Walton has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.