Goldman pumps $200m into Indian wind power

Goldman Sachs is moving further into the renewables sector with a new investment of Rs 1,000 crore (USD200 million) into an Indian wind power company, ReNew Wind Power, a company owned by former Suzlon COO Sumant Sinha. Globally, Goldman Sachs is seeing renewables as its new goldmine with over USD1.5 billion investment in alternative/clean energy-related companies.

ReNew Wind Power has several wind projects under development, including a 25 MW project in Gujarat and a 60 MW farm in Maharashtra. The company says it has business framework agreements with Kenersys, Regen Powertech and Suzlon Energy to establish and operate wind farms in India and will expand its portfolio by 200-300 MW annually.

Renew’s Chairman & CEO, Sinha, said: “We currently have 85MW under construction which will be up and running by June next year. As we go forward we intend to add 200-300 MW every year to reach a capacity of about 1GW by 2015. Fundamentally, most of this investment will go as capex into this sector.”

The fact that the cost of producing power is constantly coming down has the company in high spirits. Add to that it can sell this power at preferential tariffs due to the government setting a renewable energy quota for every state, and it's in the money.

“Our vision is to be the leading renewable energy generation company in India,” said Sinha.

Ankur Sahu, co-head of private equity in Asia at Goldman Sachs said: “ReNew Wind Power stands out as an example of Indian entrepreneurial excellence and we look forward to teaming with the management to help the company become a leader in India's renewable energy sector.”

Wind power companies in India are raising money to fund expansion as the nation plans to add 2,400 MW of wind energy capacity in the financial year ending March 31, 2012 and had 14,723 MW as of July.

India, the biggest market for new wind park installations after China and the US, is dominated by Ahmedabad-based Suzlon Power, which installed 41 percent of new capacity in the last financial year.