Inox Clean Energy buys Vena's India energy business for Rs 6,000 crore

Inox Clean Energy, the renewable energy platform of the INOXGFL Group, said on Thursday it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Vena Energy India's 6 GW renewable energy portfolio. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal valued Vena Energy India at about ₹6,000 crore, said persons familiar with the matter. ET was the first to report May 20 that INOXGFL Group was the frontrunner to acquire Vena Energy India's assets.

Vena's portfolio comprises 1.2 GW of operational renewable energy assets, 1.8 GW of projects nearing commissioning, and an additional 3 GW development pipeline. The company has long-term power purchase pacts with customers such as Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam (GUVNL), as well as a diversified mix of commercial and industrial (C&I) consumers and state power distribution companies.

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Following the acquisition, Inox Clean's operational and near-operational portfolio will grow to around 4 GW, while its overall project pipeline will exceed 12 GW across solar, wind and hybrid energy projects.

The Vena deal reflects Inox Clean's strategy to accelerate growth through a mix of greenfield investments and strategic buyouts. Over the past ten months, the company has completed ten acquisitions across renewable power generation and solar manufacturing, building an integrated clean energy platform spanning project development, power generation and equipment manufacturing, according to the company.

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Some of the deals include US-based Boviet Solar's manufacturing assets for $750 million, Macquarie-owned Vibrant Energy, the Indian assets of SunSource Energy and CalPERS-backed SkyPower, including its Africa business.

Inox Clean has also been scaling up its manufacturing operations. Its solar module manufacturing capacity stands at about 6 GW, split equally between India and the US. It is additionally developing a 4.8 GW solar cell manufacturing unit in Odisha and a 3 GW facility in the US, both expected to be commissioned by December-end.

"Inox Clean Energy continues to scale its IPP portfolio and targets annual capacity additions of more than 3 GW, a significant portion of its annual execution will be executed by Inox Wind, and would also translate into massive increase in Inox Green's portfolio," said Devansh Jain, executive director, INOXGFL Group.

According to the company, the INOXGFL Group has committed investments exceeding ₹50,000 crore over the past year across renewable energy generation and solar manufacturing businesses in India, the US and Africa.

Inox Clean operates its renewable independent power producer business through Inox Neo and its solar manufacturing business through Inox Solar. The company is targeting 10 GW of installed renewable energy generation capacity and 11 GW of integrated solar manufacturing capacity by FY28.