IndiGrid. India’s first and largest listed power sector infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), announced that it has deepened its partnership with British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, and the Norwegian Climate Investment Fund, managed by Norfund, to form a new platform, EnerGrid. This platform will focus on bidding and developing greenfield transmission and standalone Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects in India.
The Indian transmission sector is experiencing a significant uptick in its bidding and development momentum on the back of the country’s increasing power demand, changing energy mix and focus on energy transition. According to the latest estimates released by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India will require an additional 170,000 circuit kilometers of transmission lines and 47 GW of BESS capacity over the next eight years to facilitate evacuation of its growing generation capacity.
Earlier this fiscal, IndiGrid announced the first phase of this partnership, under which BII and Norfund (through KNI India AS, Norfund’s joint venture with KLP, Norway’s largest pension company) invested in three of IndiGrid’s existing greenfield transmission projects.
With the EnerGrid platform, IndiGrid, BII and Norfund, alongside KLP through KNI India AS, have committed approximately USD 300 million, with each partner contributing around USD 100 million. This capital will enable EnerGrid to target projects worth approximately USD 1.2 billion over the next few years. Post commencement of commercial operations, these projects will be fully acquired by IndiGrid at a pre-agreed enterprise value.
This will be a symbiotic partnership where IndiGrid will lend its pole position in and understanding of the nuanced Indian energy sector, and BII and Norfund will provide access to capital from global Development Financial Institutions and the Norwegian private pension fund.
