Renewable energy platform Ayana hits $721 million in funding as CDC, NIIF and GGEF agree to inject further capital

CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), and EverSource Capital managed Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF) today announced additional equity funding of $70 million / £52 million, $284 million / £212 million and $36 million /£27 million respectively in Ayana Renewable Power (Ayana), a leading Indian renewable energy platform. The proposed transaction envisages NIIF to become the majority shareholder in Ayana. The commitment is subject to final approval processes.*

Reducing global carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 is essential to limit the impact of climate change. Building this green energy capacity is vital to India’s long-term economic development, decarbonise the energy mix away from coal and support the creation of jobs.

Founded in 2018 by CDC Group, Ayana was launched to address these challenges in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The platform develops utility-scale renewable power solar and wind generation projects across India to build cost- effective capacity. To date, Ayana has received equity funding of $721 million / £541 million; sufficient to scale up its renewable energy portfolio to over 4GW over the next two years. NIIF, CDC and GGEF as shareholders bring complementary strengths to the platform that has been built with a strong focus on governance and compliance.

Ayana currently has 1.14 GW of solar generation capacity under various stages of development/operation across multiple Indian states, and a strong future pipeline of renewable energy opportunities. With a management team that has a track record of successful execution of renewable energy projects, it is well poised to play an important role in India’s ambition to build 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 and 450 GW by
2030.

British Acting High Commissioner to India, Jan Thompson, said “Today’s announcement underlines the importance of private investment in catalysing green growth.

News release
I’m delighted this investment will help Ayana scale up its green energy capacity and support India’s ambition to build 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030. This demonstrates our commitment to supporting the clean energy transition and reinforces the shared ambition of the UK and India to build a greener future.”

CDC’s Head of Asia, Srini Nagarajan said “CDC’s commitment to tackling the climate emergency was the driving force behind the creation of Ayana in 2018. Two years on and I’m delighted that we have mobilised significant commercial capital behind the cause and into Ayana. NIIF would now be the largest shareholder of a company that is delivering affordable and accessible renewable energy across India – meeting the challenge of climate change and delivering prosperity within a new, green economy.

CDC’s additional capital also reiterates the UK’s commitment to investing in India and the
strong partnership between our countries.”

Sujoy Bose, Managing Director & CEO, NIIF, said “NIIF’s continuing support to Ayana demonstrates our belief in the large growth potential of the Indian renewable energy sector and our confidence in Ayana’s ability to generate stable risk-adjusted returns for our investors. With committed like-minded shareholders and a strong management team, we are confident that Ayana will become a leading player in this space, over the next few years.”

Dhanpal Jhaveri, CEO, EverSource Capital, said “The infusion of more capital into our utility-scale platform Ayana, corroborates the belief in India’s promising renewable energy sector. This investment will strengthen our commitment to ensure the transition to zero carbon power generation, creation of job opportunities and accessibility of clean energy across India.”