SoftBank Group, a Japanese telecom giant-turned-tech investor, plans to invest $60 to $100 billion in Indian solar projects, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led administration has been promoting a plan to take advantage of India’s plentiful sunshine and popularize solar power generation to fight the country’s serious power shortage. Both the sides are now involved in the final stages of the talk and an announcement on the agreement can be expected soon.
In May 2017, SoftBank, led by chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son, hadset up a fund with the help from Saudi Arabian government. Financing of the Indian solar projects is expected to come from this fund.
Apart from investment in solar power generation, it will also invest in development and production of solar value chain, for example – solar panels.
Earlier, Mercom reported that SoftBank won an auction to develop 200 MW of solar projects by quoting ₹2.82 (~$0.0413)/kWh. The projects were tendered by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), and are to be developed at the Pavagada solar park located in Tumkur district of Karnataka.
SoftBank has been an active player in India’s renewable energy sector. Early this year, the bank announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited to establish a joint venture company (JVC) for setting up an integrated solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh. According to the MoU, SoftBank will hold 60 percent outstanding shares of the JVC while GCL-Poly will hold 40 percent. The total investment for the JVC will be approximately $930 million.
Last year in December, In the 500 MW Bhadla solar park auction, Softbank Group won 200 MW with the second lowest bid of ₹2.48 (~$0.0382)/kWh.
In March 2018, SoftBank announced its plans to invest in creating the world’s largest solar power project in Saudi Arabia. The project is expected to have the capacity to produce up to 200 GW by 2030. This would add to approximately 400 GW of globally installed solar power capacity.
(Source: Mercom India)
