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Enel wins 420MW at Indian solar tender

INDIA ENEL Green Power, through its Indian renew- energy demand.”
able subsidiary EGP India, has won 420 MW of The construction of the solar plant, which is
solar capacity at India’s latest renewables wind expected to start operations at the end of 2021,
tender. will involve an investment of approximately
The company been awarded the right to sign $180mn.
a 25-year energy supply contract for a 420MW EGP’s contract calls for it to supply specified
solar project in India, which will be located in the volumes of energy over a 25-year period to SECI.
State of Rajasthan and will be its first solar plant The facility will be able to generate more than
in the country. 750GWh of renewable energy per year, enough
The project was awarded under the 2GW to avoid the annual emission of around 681,600
Ninth Tranche of the national solar tender issued tonnes of CO2, Enel said.
by the government company Solar Energy Cor- While the deal is Enel’s first solar project in
poration of India (SECI). India, EGP India owns and operates 172 MW of
“This new tender award is testament to Enel wind capacity producing around 340GWh per
Green Power’s continuous commitment to year in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
expand its clean, sustainable energy footprint, In India’s 1.8GW Eighth Tranche of the
with the aim to move forward along the Enel national wind tender in August 2019, Enel Green
Group’s path towards full decarbonisation,” Power EGP India was awarded the right to sign
said Antonio Cammisecra, CEO of Enel Green a 25-year energy supply contract for a 190MW
Power. wind farm. In April 2018, the company scored
“India represents an important market in a its first renewable energy tender win, with the
strategic geography for our company, as it boasts assignment of 285 MW of wind in Gujarat under
a wealth of renewable resources and a highly the Fourth Tranche of SECI’s national wind
competitive environment coupled with growing tender.™

Suzlon lenders agree to debt restructuring

INDIA INDIAN wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon has energy sector, saving thousands of direct and
completed a major debt restructuring that will indirect jobs, ensuring the survival of large num-
save it from insolvency and bring it back into ber of MSME vendors and protecting 13GW of
business in a strong position, the company said. operating wind energy assets of the nation,” said
The deal involves the company’s creditors and Tulsi Tanti, founder and CMD, Suzlon Group.
the State Bank of India agreeing to a refinancing “The wind energy sector in India is at an
of the company’s INR127.85bn ($1.69bn) debts, inflection point and our debt restructuring has
alongside an injection of INR3.92bn ($52mn) of resulted in a stronger balance sheet, enabling the
fresh capital by the company’s owners. company to focus on capturing the tremendous
The lenders have also agreed to convert inter- growth potential in the Indian wind energy sec-
est accrued between March 31 and June 30, 2020, tor,” said Suzlon Group CEO J P Chalasani.
amounting to INR3bn ($40mn), into compulso- “This debt restructuring will ease the pressure
rily convertible preference shares (CCPS). on our cash flows significantly and give us head-
The new repayment plans call for the room for ramping up business operations. We
INR127.85bn debt to be divided into sustainable have reduced our fixed costs steeply and brought
and unsustainable debt. down the interest costs by more than 70%,” said
The sustainable debt of INR36bn Suzlon CFO Swapnil Jain.
($478mnbn) will be repaid at 9% over 10 years, Suzlon posted a net loss of $104mn for the
while the unsustainable debt will be repaid over quarter to December 2019 and confirmed that
20 years by converting it into optionally convert- debt had risen to $1.8bn. The more eye-catch-
ible debentures (OCDs) and compulsorily con- ing figure was that just one 2MW turbine was
vertible preference shares (CCPS). delivered in the quarter. Indeed, just 49 MW was
The deal brings to an end a year-long quest shipped in the three quarters to October 2019.
to find a solution to save the company since the It said it had to cancel 632.1 MW of orders in
company’s lenders entered into an inter-creditor the quarter because of “teething troubles of land,
agreement (ICA) on July 7, 2019. power evacuation and other constraints.” It now
“The consortium of lenders led by State Bank has an order book worth 857 MW.
of India and the company have worked together Suzlon said that its manufacturing operations
to protect the interests of all the stakeholders were “at a subdued level with nominal allocation
involved, thereby protecting the Indian wind of capital.”™

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