Tata Power subsidiary raises Rs 2,000 crore in green energy push

Tata Power Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Tata Power, on Thursday said it raised Rs 2,000 crore by issuing 83.6 million equity shares to BlackRock-backed GreenForest New Energies Bidco. 

The transaction is part of the Rs 4,000-crore investment announced in April by Tata Power for its green energy business. 

The company said that it would offload 10.53 per cent stake in its renewable energy arm to a consortium backed by BlackRock and Mubadala, translating into a base equity valuation of Rs 34,000 crore. The final shareholding would vary between 9.76 per cent and 11.43 per cent upon conversion. 

Last week, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) had approved the deal, paving the way for the issuance of shares in tranches. 

The investment will enable Tata Power to increase its capacity at a time when rivals such as the Adani group and Reliance Industries (RIL) are also ramping up their clean energy portfolios. 

At a broader level, Tata Power has earmarked Rs 75,000 crore for green energy in the next five years, Chairman N Chandrasekaran said last month during the company's annual general meeting.

An amount of Rs 10,000 crore will be spent in the current fiscal year(FY23) to take the total capital expenditure (capex) during the ongoing fiscal to Rs 14,000 crore, he said. 

Tata Power was also taking a “pragmatic” approach to achieving its renewable energy targets and had added 707 megawatts (MW) of renewable capacity in FY22, Chandrasekaran said: “This has increased our clean and green portfolio to 34 per cent of total capacity. The company aims to raise this to 60 per cent in the next five years.”

Last June. RIL committed Rs 75,000 crore for renewable energy over three years and had declared a three-pronged strategy involving solar power, hydrogen production, e-fuels, and energy storage under its “New Energy and New Materials” division. It would also set up a platform for renewable energy project finance to source long-term global capital for investment in these sectors.

Adani Enterprises had in September last year said it would invest $20 billion (Rs 1.48 trillion) over 10 years in the renewable-energy supply chain, including power generation, manufacturing, transmission and distribution.