Radiance Renewables and PIDG are together setting up solar energy plants supplying electricity to commercial and industrial customers in India. The projects will be developed under a single joint venture portfolio enabling capital to be raised at scale.
We originated this deal at a time when PIDG shifted from single-project investments to scalable platform opportunities with stronger exit potential. Our experience in completing several landmark solar energy projects across the region enabled us to tap into India’s supportive regulatory framework, to supplying green electricity directly to commercial and industrial (C&I) customers at scale.
Following discussions with multiple prospects in 2023 we identified Radiance Renewables as an ideal partner. Its management shared PIDG’s values, demonstrating strong commitments to health and safety, environmental and biodiversity management, and best practices in early-stage development – including land acquisition and procurement – creating a strong foundation for the partnership.
The greenfield joint venture platform brings together PIDG’s long-term infrastructure investment experience and Radiance Renewables’ project development and local market expertise. The platform is differentiated by its focus on making energy easily accessible to C&I customers through two business models of procuring clean power under long-term power purchase agreements (PPA) – either through their own captive system shared among a group of companies, or purchasing the electricity fed by an independent solar plant into the grid.
By combining project development, construction and operations within a single platform, the venture can deliver clean solar energy while leveraging wheeling[1] and banking arrangements with state grids. This project structure enables C&I customers to access reliable clean energy without investing substantially in generation assets.
In a market where renewable energy was already attracting commercial interest, the biggest challenge was demonstrating clear additionality, i.e., investing in projects that would otherwise not be possible without our support. Although India had established renewable energy developers, coal still accounted for the majority of the country’s power generation, and many commercial and industrial customers continued to face barriers to accessing reliable, cost-competitive clean energy at scale.
We addressed this by structuring the investment as a greenfield platform with strong governance and oversight. This included minority shareholder protections and a dedicated committee to review and approve sub-projects against agreed risk, return and sustainability criteria. These provisions were built into the Joint Investment Agreement, helping ensure that the platform would identify, fund and deliver projects that met PIDG’s additionality requirements while supporting India’s transition away from coal-based power.
Is the transaction replicable? How?
Replicability is a key strength of this investment. The platform structure is both scalable and capable of being replicated across markets, demonstrating the commercial viability of C&I renewable energy investments and attracting additional capital. This has already been evidenced by subsequent commitments of USD 100 million from Impact Fund Denmark (IFD) and the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO) to Radiance Renewables.
The model has also helped shape similar platform investments, including PIDG’s transaction with August Energy in Viet Nam and the Philippines.
Our initial USD 20 million equity investment in the Radiance JV has supported the development of a platform expected to build and own nearly 200MW of operating assets. This has created a strong foundation for future growth, investment and exit opportunities.
The only thing I would have changed with the benefit of hindsight is the ticket size of our investment. As this was amongst our first deals of this nature, we did not know how the JV would be governed and operated in practice. Now that we are comfortable with the way the platform is onboarding and developing its projects, I think we could have committed a larger amount upfront.
[1] A ‘wheeling agreement’ is an arrangement that allows electricity generated in one location to be transported (“wheeled”) through the state electricity grid to a customer at another location.
