New Delhi, Oct 18 (PTI) The global solar sector, including the Indian market, has witnessed total corporate funding of USD 22.8 billion in the January-September 2021 period, registering a nearly three-fold jump over the previous year, according to a report.

Corporate funding includes venture capital (VC) funding, public market and debt financing, Mercom Capital Group said in the report on Monday.

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The total corporate funding increased 190 per cent in the first nine months of 2021, with USD 22.8 billion in 112 deals as compared with USD 7.9 billion in 72 deals in the same period of 2020, the global clean energy communications and consulting firm said.

Mercom Capital Group CEO Raj Prabhu said, "Investments continue to be robust across the solar sector. This will end up as one of the best years for solar financing since 2010. As the push toward the energy transition picks up speed worldwide, solar is benefitting enormously."

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Prabhu added that solar project acquisitions in the first nine months of 2021 have already surpassed all of 2020.

The global solar sector brought in USD 2.2 billion in VC funding in 39 deals, registering a rise of 466 per cent compared to USD 394 million in 29 deals during January-September 2020.

In India, Premier Energies, a solar photovoltaic (PV) cell and module manufacturer, raised USD 27.11 million from GEF Capital Partners.

Public market financing into the solar sector came to USD 6.3 billion raised in 23 deals, up 209 per cent compared with USD 2 billion in 10 deals in the year-ago period.

In the public market financing space, ReNew Power from India was listed on the Nasdaq after completing a business combination with RMG Acquisition Corporation II. With this deal, RMG II became a wholly-owned subsidiary of ReNew Energy Global.

During the period under review, there were a total of 83 merger and acquisitions (M&As) transactions compared to 42 deals in January-September 2020.

The largest M&A transaction was by Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), which agreed to acquire a 100 per cent stake in SB Energy India from Soft Bank Group (80 per cent) and Bharti Group (20 per cent). The transaction values SB Energy India at an enterprise valuation of about USD 3.5 billion.

The M&A deals in India came from ReNew Power which has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 260 MW of operational solar projects in Telangana. Adani Renewable Energy acquired 40 MW of operating solar project in Odisha from Essel Green Energy for USD 30 million.

Torrent Power signed an agreement with Lightsource India and Lightsource Renewable Energy to acquire 100 per cent of the share capital and all securities of the special purpose vehicle Lightsource Renewable Energy Holdings Ltd Renewables India SPV1, which operates a 50-megawatt (MW) solar project in Maharashtra.

Distributed solar company Fourth Partner Energy also distributed a solar portfolio with an 8.9 MW capacity from Statkraft India.

Mercom Capital Group is global communication and consulting firm focused exclusively on clean energy and financial communications. HRS hrs

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