ReNew explores Rs 1,000 crore sale of hydropower business

New Delhi: ReNew is looking to sell its hydropower unit for an estimated about ₹1,000 crore, said people familiar with the matter. The unit, acquired from Larsen & Toubro, five years ago, houses hydroelectric power projects in the hill state of Uttarakhand.

A potential transaction, which underscores the company's 'asset recycling' strategy, could see Nasdaq-listed ReNew completely exit the hydropower generation business.

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People familiar with this strategy said ReNew will look to sell commissioned assets it operated for the past few years to generate capital for starting new projects.

The transaction could attract private firms in the hydropower generation space where gestation periods for investments are extremely long, and returns are generally viewed as multi-decadal in nature.

JSW Neo Energy, Adani Power, Torrent Power, KKR-backed Serentica Renewables, and LNJ Bhilwara are among the few companies engaged in hydropower generation, and they are likely to be approached, said the people cited above.

ReNew, JSW Neo, Adani Power, Serentica, Torrent and LNJ Bhilwara didn't respond to ET's requests for comment.

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ReNew acquired L&T Uttaranchal Hydropower from L&T for ₹985 crore in August 2021. The unit has three power plants, located along the banks of the Mandakini river in Uttarakhand, near the pilgrimage site of Kedarnath. The projects are commissioned and have a total capacity of around 100 megawatts.

Last year, JSW Neo acquired a hydropower project in Himachal Pradesh's Tidong Valley from Norway's Statkraft for ₹1,728 crore. ReNew is recovering from the setback of a failed bid to go private last year. A major investor, Abu Dhabi-based Masdar, backed out of a consortium that was to finance the delisting.

ReNew CFO Kailash Vaswani told ET at the time that it has cash and cash equivalents of $1 billion and was in no particular rush to raise capital.