ACME Solar Holdings Ltd., through its subsidiaries, has secured INR 4,725 crores in debt financing from top Indian institutions. This funding supports renewable energy project construction and optimizes capital structure by lowering financing costs.
The long-term financing, spanning 18-20 years, covers new greenfield projects and refinancing:
New Greenfield Financings:
- INR 2,716 crore from Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) for the 300 MW ACME Sigma FDRE project (renewables with 4-hour battery storage).
- INR 800 crore from National Bank for Financing Infrastructure Development (NaBFID) – ACME’s first greenfield financing – for the 150 MW ACME Platinum Solar + ESS project (2-hour battery storage, 50% availability).
Both projects have grid connectivity and are in advanced construction stages.
Refinancing: INR 1,209 crores secured from Yes Bank towards refinancing operational project of 300 MW ACME Sikar Solar project enabling reduction in cost of debt initially by 170 bps and eventually by 195 bps. This is first long-term refinancing from Yes Bank for ACME Solar.
With this round of financing, in the current financial year company has secured INR 10,590 crores of greenfield financing leading to overall debt tie up of more than 90% of PPA signed under construction projects. Further, company has refinanced debt of INR 3,380 crores, achieving a 135 bps rate reduction on refinanced debt and additional rate reduction of 60 bps on INR 4,035 crores debt for other projects which includes two operational projects moving to fixed rate regime with existing lender. This initiative is consistent with the Company’s long-term funding strategy to maintain a well-diversified and strategic mix of fixed and floating rate borrowings.
Non-fund based limits: ACME Solar has also expanded Non-fund based limits from various Banks this year including ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, EXIM Bank etc. These limits assist in reducing cost of debt through trade finance during construction stage of project.
