India PV News Snippets

IITMRP & First Solar announce solar R&D MoU; CCI clears KKR investment in Hero Future Energies Global Ltd; Indore Municipal Corporation's green bonds oversubscribed; ReNew Power rebrands itself as just ReNew.

IIT Madras & First Solar partnership: One of India's premium technology institutes, IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP) in Chennai has entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with US based thin-film module maker First Solar, Inc to cooperate on R&D activities related to solar PV technology. According to IITMRP, the cooperation extends to the localization of supply chains of thin-film and other next generation PV technologies in India. They also plan to work on high-volume manufacturing, PV module testing and high-value recycling under the MoU.

First Solar's Chief Manufacturing Officer Kuntal Kumar Verma said, "The MoU covers a number of areas that directly support India's decarbonization, energy independence, and sustainability goals and we would be pleased to share our experience, while also benefitting from the institution's expertise in areas such as field testing." The American company is currently building a 3.3 GW DC solar module manufacturing fab in Tamil Nadu's Pillaipakkam (see First Solar To Build 3.3 GW Thin Film Solar Fab In India).

CCI nod for KKR investment in Hero Future Energies: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the candidature of international investment firm KKR in Hero Future Energies Global Ltd. KKR is investing in the company through a special purpose vehicle Ardor Holdings II Pte. Incorporated in England and Wales, Hero Future Energies Global Limited is active in setting up/acquisition of solar and wind power generation projects. In India, it operates through Hero Future Energies Private Limited (HFE India).

IMC's municipal bonds for solar power: The Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) in Madhya Pradesh recently launched the country's 1^st public issue of municipal bonds to that were oversubscribed within 2.5 hours of being launched and raised INR 3 billion ($36.28 million). Proceeds will be used to develop a 60 MW captive solar power plant. According to local media reports, the corporation issued secured redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCD) with face value of INR 1000 ($12.09) each, adding up to a total of INR 1.22 billion ($14.75 million), with an option to retain an oversubscription of up to INR 1.22 billion. On aggregate basis, the total issue size is INR 2.44 billion ($29.5 million). The bonds were open for subscription between February 10 and February 14, 2023. The bonds were open for subscription between February 10 and February 14, 2023. IMC had launched a tender for the 60 MW solar project in September 2022 (see India PV News Snippets).

New brand identity for ReNew Power: ReNew Power has rebranded itself as ReNew-The Future of Energy that it says reflects its transition from being a pure-play renewable independent power producer (IPP) to an end-to-end solutions provider across the decarbonization spectrum. It is now present in all aspects of energy transition as green hydrogen, energy storage, carbon markets, renewable energy generation and solar manufacturing. ReNew Chairman and CEO Sumant Sinha said, "ReNew's endeavor is to build on its renewable energy business, and widen its offerings across the spectrum, that support decarbonization within the context of the future of energy."