French energy giant to invest in Adani Green.

French energy giant-Total SA will invest US$ 510 million (about Rs 3,628 crore) in an equal joint venture with Adani Green Energy Ltd that will hold solar energy assets.

The joint venture of Adani Green and Total Gas & Power Business Services SAS will house 2,148 MWac of operating solar projects, Adani Green said in a statement.

These projects are spread across 11 states and currently, owned by Adani Green.

The deal comes barely months after Total agreed to buy a 37.4 per cent stake in Adani Gas Ltd for as much as Rs 6,154.75 crore (US$ 868.5 million).

Interestingly, a few days back, the Chairman of Adani group, Gautam Adani had said that his diversified conglomerate will become India’s largest renewable energy player within a year. He added that the Adani group would be the largest solar power producer in the world by 2025 and the biggest renewable energy firm globally by 2030.

Total’s investment, one of the biggest till date in India’s renewable energy sector, comes at a time when the country is struggling to meet its ambitious target of setting up 100 GW solar capacities, of which 40 GW will be in the solar rooftop space.

Meanwhile, the country had witnessed a breakneck growth in the solar industry during the first three to four years, following Narendra Modi Government announcing its ambitious target. However, the growth seems to have slackened.

Moreover, not only states like Andhra Pradesh threatened to renege or renegotiate long-term power purchase agreements but many government-owned power distribution companies also are struggling to clear dues of renewable power producers.

Adani Green seems to be unfazed by this reversal of fortune in Indian renewable energy sector, as it looks to increase its operational capacity by 2021 to 5.3 gigawatt from 2.5 GW at present. And in January, the company said it had won a bid for a 700-megawatt wind-solar hybrid project that would take its total capacity to six GW by 2022-23.

The company has seen a steep rise in its valuation since it got listed on the stock exchanges. In the five months since the beginning of September last year, the shares of Adani Green moved from Rs 45-46 levels to a record high Rs 243.25, in January this year.

Although the stock is now trading around Rs 202 apiece, the green energy company today is more than six times as valuable as it was when it began trading on the exchanges in mid-2018, after it demerged from Adani Enterprises Ltd as part of the group’s efforts to simplify its business structure.

With a market capitalisation of nearly Rs 30,000 crore, Adani Green has entered into the club of India’s Top-100 listed companies.