Aditya Birla Nuvo to develop solar power plants with Abraaj Group.

Kumar Mangalam Birla promoted Aditya Birla Group has announced a partnership with The Abraaj Group (Abraaj), a global PE investor, to build a large-scale renewable energy platform focused on developing utility scale solar power plants in India.

The partner companies would be building projects of over 1,000 MW in the country. Back of the envelope calculations suggest that they would require over Rs. 6,000 crore for setting up these plants.

The Aditya Birla Group would invest in the platform through Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd (ABNL) and Abraaj would invest through one of its affiliates, ABNL said in a BSE announcement recently.

ABNL has entered into a definitive share subscription and shareholders agreement (SSA) with an affiliate of Abraaj. According to the agreement, ABNL and the Abraaj affiliate will hold a 51 per cent and a 49 per cent of the paid-up share capital, respectively, in Aditya Birla Renewables Ltd., currently a wholly owned subsidiary of ABNL.

Aditya Birla Renewables Ltd., the solar power platform, would also bid for projects tendered at national and state auctions. The company plans to develop and operate utility-scale solar power plants that can provide clean and cost-effective electricity to the national grids across several key states in India.

HBL