SunEdison bankruptcy to not hit India biz

The company may face challenges, but would look at roping in partners for funding

The projects of renewable energy major SunEdison might not be affected because of the SunEdison Inc filing for bankruptcy protection in US, said Pashupathy Gopalan, president, SunEdison Asia Pacific. The firm might face some challenges but would look at bringing in some equity partners to fill the funding gap, he said.

US solar company SunEdison, facing heavy scrutiny over its accounting and its failed $2.2-billion acquisition of Vivint Solar, filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday. SunEdison said it obtained $300 mn in financing to keep operations running while it reorganises over $10 bn of debt in federal bankruptcy court in New York.

Speaking to Business Standard, Gopalan said, “In India, we will continue normal course of business, will continue to have projects under construction and projects under operation. India will not be affected by this.”

The filing for restructuring, under the Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code, relates to the US entity and certain other entities but the Indian entity is not involved in it, he adds.

At the start of construction of a project, the company does financial closure. While it might face some challenges, the company would continue the business in India. The company has also said publicly it would be looking for equity partners to fill whatever the gap in funding is.

The power purchase agreement allows the company to bring in other equity partners into specific projects and the company would be doing that, he added.

The company has projects in hand to build around 1.5 gigawatt, in around 25 projects, over next two years in India, he said.