ReNew Energy Global Plc has secured an investment of Rs 8,700 million or $100 million from British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, to accelerate the growth of its solar manufacturing business in India.
British International Investment is likely to acquire a stake of approximately 10% in ReNew Photovoltaics Private Limited, the company’s solar manufacturing arm after the closing of the investment, subject to customary approvals including those from lenders and antitrust authorities, as per a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Post-expansion, ReNew’s total manufacturing capacity will be approximately 6.4 GW of modules and 6.4 GW of cells, Sumant Sinha, Founder, Chairman & CEO, ReNew said.
ReNew Photovoltaics, established in 2021, comprises an operational 6.4 GW solar PV module facility and a 2.5 GW solar cell facility, located in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and Dholera, Gujarat respectively.
BII’s investment will be primarily utilised to grow the business and expand the company’s manufacturing capacity through the construction of a new state of the art 4 GW TOPConcell facility in Dholera, Gujarat, the company said.
The investment is BII’s first-ever in solar manufacturing in the county.
“Venturing into manufacturing was a strategic decision aimed at securing our supply chain, particularly as India advances its objective of indigenising the solar supply chain with a supportive regulatory and policy environment,” Sinha said.
With an annual output of 4.0-4.5 GW of modules, ReNew Photovoltaics’ facilities will primarily serve the company’s internal consumption, with surplus capacity targeted for third-party sales.
To date, the facilities have supplied 900 MW to third parties along with additional orders of approximately 1.5 GW. Key supply partnerships of ReNew Photovoltaics’ products include customers such as NTPC, and Shakti Pumps.
“This investment will primarily be used to expand cell capacity to match the module capacity. We have already started construction, it should be ready by the middle of next financial year,” Sanjay Varghese, Group President, solar project and manufacturing at ReNew told FE.
Shilpa Kumar, MD and Head of India, BII, said, “This investment is crucial for building and strengthening the renewable energy supply chain in India. Enhancing India’s capacity in solar manufacturing will not only boost clean energy generation but also reduce the country’s dependency on imports, promote sustainable industrialisation and create new jobs.”
ReNew, a decarbonisation solutions company listed on Nasdaq presently has a clean energy portfolio of around 17.4 GW on a gross basis as of February 14, 2025.
The company has however decided to delist from Nasdaq and has earlier received a non-binding proposal dated December 10, 2024, from Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company PJSC-Masdar (Masdar), Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), Platinum Hawk C 2019 RSC Limited as trustee for the Platinum Cactus A 2019 Trust (Platinum Hawk) (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, ADIA) and Sumant Sinha (the Founder, Chairman and CEO of ReNew) (together with Masdar, CPP Investments, and Platinum Hawk, the Consortium) to acquire the entire issued and to-be-issued share capital of the company not already owned by members of the Consortium, for cash consideration of $7.07 per share.