ACEN, BrightNight partner for India RE projects

MANILA, Philippines — ACEN Corp. is pouring in $250 million after teaming up with US-based renewable power company BrightNight to put up over 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of hybrid renewable energy portfolio in India.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, ACEN said it would jointly develop and operate with BrightNight some large-scale hybrid wind-solar and round-the-clock renewable power projects in India.

For this partnership, ACEN is looking to deploy $250 million equity plus related performance guarantees to support BrightNight’s existing portfolio and future growth.

“With this partnership, we are significantly strengthening our foothold in India’s fast-growing market as we shift from pure solar play to multi-technology renewables,” ACEN International CEO Patrice Clausse said.

“We look forward to working with BrightNight’s highly experienced local team as our combined expertise will help India progress towards their energy transition goal and spur the global transition towards a Net Zero economy,” he said.

ACEN’s subsidiaries ACEN Renewables International and ACEN International will primarily support the buildout of BrightNight’s existing development pipeline of over 1.2 GW of hybrid portfolio in India.

This also covers a differentiated 100-megawatt (MW) co-located wind-solar project in the resource-rich state of Maharashtra.

The hybrid projects, with calibrated use of storage technologies, will operate around the clock, and focus on meeting specific load or generation pattern requirements of high quality utility offtakers and large Corporates and Industrials customers.

“ACEN is one of the largest and most respected renewables investors in Asia Pacific, and we are honored that they have chosen to work with us. They have demonstrated success in scaling and operating large fleets of renewable assets through strategic partnerships across the region, and we have a shared vision on delivering what the India market requires: dispatchable, reliable, and affordable clean power,” BrightNight CEO Martin Hermann said.

ACEN and its partners own a solar farm portfolio of 630-MW direct current (dc), or 450-MW alternating current (ac), of operating and under construction assets in India.

BrightNight, meanwhile, brings its advanced India portfolio, experienced local team, and differentiated capabilities to develop and optimize large scale, multi-technology hybrid renewable power plants.

BrightNight is developing a global portfolio of 23 GW across the US and Asia Pacific, including India, Australia, the Philippines, and Bangladesh, and is backed by some of the most respected investors in the global energy sector.

It works with its customers globally to design, develop, and operate safe, reliable, large-scale renewable power projects optimized to better manage the intermittent nature of renewable energy.

For this transaction, HSBC acted as financial advisor to BrightNight, King & Spalding LLP and Clifford Chance LLP acted as international legal advisors, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Khaitan & Co LLP as Indian legal advisors, and EY and GT acted as global tax advisors.