Noway’s Norfund, KLP Partner with ReNew Power to Invest in India’s Transmission Sector

Norfund and KLP have announced that they will invest around Rs 900 million in partnership with ReNew Power for 49% ownership stake in ReNew’s transmission project in the Koppal district of Karnataka state in India, with ambitions for further joint investments. ReNew Power is one of the largest renewable energy independent power producers (IPPs) in India.

Norfund, which is based in Norway and invests in renewable energy, held that the scaling up solar and wind energy requires significant investments in transmission lines to stabilize the grid and transport energy from areas most suitable for solar and wind parks. Norway’s new Climate Investment Fund is managed by Norfund.

Norwegian Ambassador Hans Jacob Frydenlund said, “India succeeding in its green transition is key for the world to succeed in combating global warming. I’m glad Norway can contribute to enable expansion of renewables in India through investing in transmission lines.”

On partnership with Norfund and KLP, Sumant Sinha, Chairman & CEO, ReNew Power, stated, “Investment in the transmission sector provides synergies with our core RE portfolio and demonstrates our success in capital recycling.”

Connecting 2.5 GW RE

Bjørnar Baugerud, Vice President with Norfund said that through this investment Norfund is contributing to the connection of 2.5 GW of planned renewable power in the south being connected to India’s national grid. “We are pleased to make Norfund’s and the Climate Investment Fund’s first investment in the sector, and we look forward to strengthening our partnership with Renew,” he said.

According to the statement by Norfund, the project will consist of a 5 x 500 MVA 400/220 kV sub-station at Koppal with 400 kV D/C quad moose transmission line from Koppal substation to Narendra New substation and 400 kV GIS Extn at Narendra New in Karnataka (Koppal Project). Its commercial operations are expected to start in the first quarter of FY24.

Aage Schaanning, Chief Financial Officer at KLP, mentioned, “This investment will reduce bottlenecks in the Indian transmission system and open the way for new renewable power generation to produce electricity to meet rising Indian demand.”

Third Investment By ‘Climate Investment Fund’ In India

Operational since May, Norway’s new Climate Investment Fund, managed by Norfund, has already made two previous investments in India – in a large-scale solar park with Enel and in Fourth Partner Energy.

The new Norwegian Climate Investment Fund received 1 billion NOK in the state budget for 2022, matched by an equal sum from Norfund’s capital, and the Parliament has now approved another 1 billion for 2023. The plan is for the fund to reach 10 billion NOK within five years.