SoftBank, Bharti Enterprises and Foxconn Technology announced a joint venture to tap the Indian clean energy — solar and wind — market.
SBG Cleantech, which will be headquartered in Delhi, will focus on solar and wind energy.
India has recently set a target of 100GW solar and 60GW wind target by 2022. Government of India’s mission is to achieve 24×7 power for all and the renewable energy target by 2022. India has achieved a base of 3.7 GW of solar power.
The venture will invest in renewable energy plants across India. SBG Cleantech intends to participate in the 2015-16 round of solar power plant tenders under the National Solar Mission (NSM) program and state-specific solar programs.
Softbank will be the project leader with majority stake, while Bharti will be a strategic minority shareholder. Foxconn Technology will have a smaller minority stake.
Masayoshi Son, chairman & CEO of SoftBank, said: “We have already made considerable investments in the technology sector here. With this partnership, our goal is to create a market-leading clean energy company, to fuel India’s growth with clean and renewable sources of energy.”
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, “This project will immensely contribute to the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of meeting the country’s energy demands through clean sources.”
SBG Cleantech will have Manoj Kohli, a Bharti veteran, who until recently led Bharti’s emerging businesses, as executive Chairman and Raman Nanda, as the CEO.
Solar in India is likely to grow by 250 percent in 2015. Globally, renewable energy outpaced the growth of fossil fuels in 2015 and a record 107 GW was added through wind, solar, geothermal and other natural sources.
Rajani Baburajan
editor@greentechlead.com