Renewable energy company Greenko has closed funding of £100 million (about Rs 830 crore) through equity participation by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Pte Ltd (GIC).

Listed on the Alternate Investment Market of London Stock Exchange, with its operations base in Hyderabad, Greenko Group has begun to work on six new hydel projects with total capacity of 425 MW to its development pipeline.

The company hydel clusters are located in Himachal, Sikkim and Karnataka.

In Himachal, it has 71 MW operational and 33.6 MW under construction, in Sikkim, it has 96 MW under construction, and in Karnataka, it has 94.5 MW operational capacity and 58 MW under construction.

According to Anil Chalamalasetty, Chief Executive of Greenko, the subscription proceeds will be used to accelerate the company past its original target of 1,000 MW in 2015 and set it on the next stage of growth to take it beyond the 2,000-MW mark by 2018.

The new hydel projects will come up in Himachal Pradesh (115 MW) and Arunachal Pradesh (310 MW).

With the investments by GIC, one of the leading sovereign wealth funds, the company seeks to scale up operations.

Under construction

The company now has operating capacity of 309 MW and 390 MW under advanced stages of construction.

Those under construction include 188 MW of hydel power projects and 202 MW of wind farms.

These will be commissioned within 24 months.

The company has adopted a two-pronged approach for expansion.

These include securing rights to develop new greenfield projects as well as making selective acquisitions.

Greenko will shortly commission a 65.6-MW unit in Ratnagiri in Maharashtra and 51.2 MW in Basvanbagewadi in Karnataka before monsoon.

> rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in