Avaada Ventures secures $1.07 billion funding for expansion plans

Green energy and fuels company Avaada Ventures has secured funding worth $1.07 billion, led by marquee private equity player Brookfield, which will make an equity investment of $1 billion. The sand-to-molecule company plans to use the funds for new projects in green hydrogen, green ammonia, and solar equipment manufacturing.

Avaada’s existing shareholder Global Power Synergy Public Company (GPSPCL), an electricity and utility flagship of PTT group, will pump in $68 million into Avaada Energy, an independent renewable energy project developer with 4 Gigawatt (Gw) of operating assets and 7 Gw of projects under construction.

Vineet Mittal, founder chairman of Avaada Group, told Business Standard that the Brookfield fund infusion was an equity investment, but did not disclose the shareholding. He, however, said: “We are the majority shareholder in Avaada Ventures and in Avaada Energy. There has been no change in the shareholding. The investment by PTT is through a rights issue. Avaada Ventures will continue to have 57.1 per cent shareholding in Avaada Energy.”

In a release it said the group was also in advanced discussions with potential investors to raise another $200 million.

Avaada Ventures recently won an allocation of 3 Gw of wafer-cell-module (WCM) manufacturing under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. Last week, it floated Licensing Engineering Procurement and Construction (LEPC) tenders for the first 0.5 million tonne of green ammonia manufacturing.

“These funds have been raised to boost our manufacturing plans. We want to complete our solar manufacturing first” said Mittal.

“Financial closure for the 3 Gw WCM was achieved recently. We want to commence production of green ammonia by 2025-26. So we wanted to be fully capitalised. Be it any green business, banks want equity sitting in our accounts. It was prudent to raise equity to turn all our plans into reality,” he added.

He said the company is aiming to move the first shipment from its solar manufacturing units by next financial year. The company is also aiming to touch 11 Gw of renewable energy production by 2026.

For its module and ammonia business, the company is looking at both the domestic market and exports. Mittal said the interest in green energy was driven by regulations such as the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) in the UK, which is pushing companies to “become green”.

“We are getting huge demand for green ammonia from overseas markets, particularly Japan, South Korea, and Europe. In India, there will soon be a demand aggregated tender by the Centre,” Mittal said.

Avaada Ventures recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Rajasthan government worth Rs 40,000 crore for setting up a green ammonia manufacturing plant. It also recently announced a partnership with the Andhra Pradesh state government to develop 500-Mw utility-scale solar projects and will invest about Rs 3,500 crore in the state.