Gujarat-based power company Torrent Power Limited announced that it has entered into a share purchase agreement with Blue Daimond Properties and Balrampur Chini Mills to acquire 100% equity share capital of Visual Percept Solar Projects, a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

The acquisition value is estimated at ₹1.63 billion (~$21.71 million). Blue Daimond Properties and Balrampur Chini Mills held 55% and 45% of equity shares of the SPV, respectively.

The SPV operates a 25 MW solar project in Gujarat, and it has a long-term power purchase agreement with the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam for 25 years. Commissioned in January 2012, the project has a feed-in tariff of ₹15 (~$0.20)/kWh for the first 12 years and ₹5 (~$0.066)/kWh thereafter.

Torrent Power has a cumulative power generation capacity of 3.9 GW, including 2.7 GW of gas and 800 MW of renewables. The company also has 700 MW of renewable energy capacity under the advanced stage of acquisition or development. With this, its renewable portfolio will increase to over 1.5 GW, and its total power generation capacity will reach about 4.6 GW.

The company distributes around 14.5 billion units of power to more than 3.7 million consumers in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Dahej SEZ, and Dholera in Gujarat and other states like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. It is also in the process of taking over the power distribution in the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

Earlier this month, the company recorded revenue from operations of ₹105.14 billion (~$1.41 billion) in the first nine months (9M) of the financial year 2022. The figure was 16% year-over-year higher than the revenue of ₹90.89 billion (~$1.21 billion) in the same period last year.

Mercom had earlier reported that the company entered into a share purchase agreement with CESC Limited, Haldia Energy Limited, and other nominal shareholders to acquire 100% share capital of Surya Vidyut Limited. Surya Vidyut Limited owned 156 MW of wind power projects in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.

Torrent Power has also acquired a 100% stake in Lightsource Renewable Energy Holdings’ special purpose vehicle operating a 50 MW solar project.

According to Mercom Capital Group’s Annual and Q4 2021 Solar Funding and M&A Report, there were 280 large-scale solar project acquisitions in 2021 compared to 231 transactions in 2020. In 2021, the sector also saw the most project acquisition activity in terms of gigawatts, with more than 69 GW changing hands compared to 40 GW in 2020.

Harsh Shukla is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.

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