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Global investment firm KKR on Tuesday said it signed definitive agreements with decarbonisation platform Serentica Renewables under which KKR will invest $400 million in the latter. Serentica Renewables is a company which seeks to enable the energy transition by providing complex clean energy solutions for energy-intensive, hard-to-abate industries.
The statement from KKR said currently, Serentica had entered into three long-term PPAs and was in the process of developing 1,500 MW of solar and wind power projects across various states including Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. Serentica's medium term goal is to install 5,000 MW of carbon-free generation capacity coupled with different storage technologies and supply over 16 billion units of clean energy annually and displace 20 million tonne of CO2 emissions, according to the KKR statement. Serentica's launch builds on the favourable macroeconomic tailwinds behind India's power and renewables sectors, as well as the government's strong commitment to advancing India's energy transition. In addition, Serentica looks to provide clean energy alternatives to the critical but hard-to-abate industrial sectors that continue to drive India's development and economic growth, according to the statement. Pratik Agarwal, director, Serentica Renewables, said, "We are happy to have a like-minded strategic partner in KKR who believes in our model of sustainable development. The world is undergoing a clean energy transition and India is at the forefront of this effort with its ambitious target of 450GW by the year 2030. This investment will allow us to leap ahead in our vision of decarbonizing large energy intensive industries and help in reversing climate change." He said that this transaction was amongst the largest industrial decarbonisation investments in India to date and carries forward the global decarbonisation agenda which is centre stage at COP27 (2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference). Hardik Shah, Partner at KKR, said, "With Serentica, we look to support these companies in their decarbonisation objectives. We are delighted to back Serentica through this latest strategic partnership and are excited to develop Serentica into a leading decabonization platform that can contribute meaningfully to the energy transition requirements that lie ahead of us." Standard Chartered Bank acted as the sole financial advisor to Serentica for this transaction. KKR said it makes its investment from its Asia Pacific Infrastructure strategy. The transaction in Serentica marks KKR's latest investment in India and the renewables sector. Since 2011, KKR has deployed over $15 billion in equity globally to invest in renewable assets, such as solar and wind, which have an operational power generation capacity of 23 GW, as of December 31, 2021, according to the statement. (ANI)
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