Norfund, KLP invest in 420-MW Indian solar project of Enel

Norfund and Norwegian pension company KLP have agreed to jointly acquire a 49% stake in a 420-MW DC solar power plant being built in India by Italy’s Enel Green Power.

The solar project, Thar Surya 1, is located in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan and has an alternating current capacity of 300 MW, Norfund said on Friday.

The Norwegian investors will pay about INR 2.8 billion (USD 35.1m/EUR 35.1m) for the stake. This is the first investment as part of a strategic partnership between Norfund and Enel Green Power in India.

Norfund is investing through the new Norwegian Climate Investment Fund, which, including this deal, has deployed NOK 1.8 billion (USD 184m/EUR 184m). The fund will invest NOK 10 billion over the next five years, with equal contributions of NOK 1 billion from Norfund’s capital and the state budget each year.

“If India is to base its energy needs on renewables there is an enormous need for capital, which we are contributing to in part with the new climate investment fund,” said Norfund chief executive Tellef Thorleifsson.

The announcement cited a BloombergNEF India report that projects India will need USD 233 billion in investment to meet its solar and wind development goals by 2030.

“This summer with extreme heat and drought in many parts of the world has shown us, more clearly than ever, there is no time to waste in the fight against climate change,” commented Minister of International Development Anne Beathe Tvinnereim.

(INR 1.0 = USD 0.013/EUR 0.013)

(NOK 1 = USD 0.102/EUR 0.102)

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