If the sale of the solar plants goes through, the existing alliance between Waaree and Neepco may come to an end
New Delhi-based Hero Future Energies, the clean energy arm of the Hero Group, is reportedly set to buy the solar plants of Waaree Energies Ltd in a ₹500-550 crore deal.
Headquartered in Mumbai, Waaree has a 100 megawatts (MW) portfolio as an independent power producer, of which 50MW in Madhya Pradesh and 25MW in Andhra Pradesh are currently operational.
The projects are implemented as part of Waaneep Solar Pvt Ltd, a public-private partnership between Waaree Energies and North Eastern Electric Power Corp. Ltd (Neepco).
If the sale of the solar plants goes through, the partnership between Waaree and Neepco would come to an end, sources close to the matter have revealed to Livemint.
Failed acquisition attempts
Earlier this year, ReNew Power had evaluated Waaree’s solar plants for an acquisition, but it didn’t work out. Hero Future had also attempted to buy Orange Renewable from Singapore’s AT Capital Group, but failed.
Waaree Energies is amongst the top players in India in providing EPC services, project development, rooftop solutions, and solar water pumps. It has India’s largest Solar PV Module manufacturing capacity of 1.5 GW’s at its plant in Gujarat.
Hero Future, ranked among India’s top five clean energy producers, is developing 1.2GW of capacity with another 500MW under construction. It plans to expand its portfolio to 5GW by 2022.
Early this year, the company opened India’s first large-scale wind-solar hybrid renewable energy plant with 78MW capacity in Raichur, Karnataka.
Despite low tariffs, the Indian government has lifted its clean energy target from 175 gigawatts (GW) to 227GW by 2022. The current capacity stands at just over 70GW.