Reliance Venture Asset Management (RVAM), the venture capital arm of the Reliance ADA Group, is set to acquire a minority stake in AllGreen Energy Ltd. AllGreen has been established in the Indian renewable energy segment with the aim of erecting and managing biomass gasification power plants, from agricultural waste.
AllGreen says it is set to establish multiple biomass-based RE projects in India within the next 10 years. The deal size is learnt to be Rs 60-70 crore. Along with RVAM, the energy arm of GE, the global business conglomerate, is learnt to be investing in AllGreen.
The first plant of AllGreen Energy will be located in Perundurai, Tamil Nadu, with a total capacity of 6.4 Mw. It has planned two more plants in South India this year. AllGreen’s biomass gasification plants will generate revenues from renewable power, charcoal, the waste heat to be sold to power cold storage facilities and the sale of carbon credits. Harshal Shah, CEO of RVAM, said: “The demand for renewable energy in India has increased. Though biomass availability in India is about 540 million tonnes, only 150 mt is being used for power generation, to produce 700 Mw. But it has a capacity to produce about 18,000 Mw.”
Last year, the major PE/VC deals in RE included Blackstone’s $290-million investment in Moser Baer, IFC’s $50-mn investment in Bhilwara Energy and TPG’s $34-mn investments in Greenko Group. In 2008, Konaseema Gas Power received $125-mn investment from IDFC PE and Lehman Brothers. The RE sector witnessed 135 per cent more value in PE/VC investments in 2010 than the previous year. According to VCCedge data, five PE/VC investments worth $377 mn (Rs 1,715 crore) took place in 2010, against six deals worth $160 mn in 2009.
RVAM has an investment portfolio of 15 companies. It has recently invested in Gradatim IT Ventures, a Bangalore-based information technology firm. Another deal in 2010 include Tessolve Services, Reverse Logistics, Scalable Display Technologies and Suvidhaa Infoserve.