Orient Green Power gets $55M for Indian renewables

Chennai, India-based renewable energy generation company Orient Green Power said today it raised $55 million to develop and acquire energy projects.

Orient plans to target 500 megawatts in the next two to three years in the fields of biomass, co-generation, wind, small hydro and biogas. Orient plans to establish power-purchase agreements with state electricity boards or work with power trading companies for better margins. Eventually, the company plans to sell directly to customers.

Olympus Capital Holdings Asia led the round with a $35 million, with $10 million each from previous investors Shriram EPC and Bessemer Venture Partners. The company previously raised $20 million.

Orient's portfolio includes 70 MW of power generating capacity installed and an additional 145 MW planned to be operational by March 2009 in biomass, wind, mini hydro plants and biogas. In all, the projects are expected to be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 900 crore to Rs 1,000 crore ($180 million to $201 million).

Two of Orient's projects under construction are a 15 MW hydropower plant in Orissa and a 7.5 MW capacity project using waste such as poultry litter or biomass in Andhra Pradesh.

Another potential revenue stream for Orient is the sale of 5,000 certified emissions reductions (CERs) a year through the clean development mechanism (see Europe gains carbon credits with India projects).

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