Fourth Partner Energy Raises Rs 112 Cr From Zurich-Based responsAbility

Fourth Partner Energy (FPE) has announced that it has raised roughly Rs 112 crore in debt funding from Zurich-based asset manager responsAbility.

Hyderbad-based clean energy firm Fourth Partner Energy (FPE) has announced that it has raised roughly Rs 112 crore (USD 15 million) in debt funding from Zurich-based asset manager responsAbility. The latest infusion is the firms’ third round of funding anchored by the Swiss firm through its climate finance funds. The first two rounds of financing were closed in 2016 and 2017.

The South Indian firm has stated the funds will be used for the construction of new assets across the company’s distributed solar and open access portfolios.

“This third line of credit from responsAbility reflects their confidence in our industry expertise. It is also a positive indicator of the faith the investment and lender communities have on the country’s solar growth potential. We will be using these funds towards constructing new assets for our marquee customers,” said Pradhyum Reddy, strategy, finance and operations head at FPE.

He added that the firm is looking to add capacity of close to 350 megawatts (MW) across both distributed solar and open access portfolios in its 10th year and is already building solar parks in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. Currently, the firm operates over 400 MW of assets for over 150 corporate and government clients in India.

“We believe strong partnerships can lower the barriers to green financing. We are bullish on the potential of India’s solar sector, especially adoption by commercial and industrial off-takers who will be looking to minimise operational costs, now more than ever before… We are excited to enable Fourth Partner’s current phase of expansion,” said Sameer Tirkar, principal Climate Finance for responsAbility.

ResponsAbility’s ‘Access to Clean Power Fund’ is a private debt fund that addresses the lack of access to clean power globally.

In March, the company had marked its entry into the electric vehicle (EV) charging space with its joint venture (JV) with commercial EV fleet operator Lithium Urban Technologies. Through this 50:50 JV partnership i.e. ‘Shuchi Anant Virya’, the two companies plan to build EV charging infrastructure across the country.

The JV had unveiled its first solar-powered EV charging hub in Gurugram, which is capable of charging 25-30 vehicles simultaneously. This facility will be used initially to charge Lithium’s fleet to Wipro and American Express in Gurugram. Besides, the JV has also commissioned a second charging facility in Pune, Maharashtra.

FPE is backed by TPG’s The Rise Fund which invested USD 70 million in it in June 2018.