Premier Energies raises Rs 200 cr fund from GEF Capital

Hyderabad City-based Premier Energies, a solar PV cells and module manufacturer, has announced a private equity investment of Rs 200 crore in the company by GEF Capital Partners, a global private equity manager focused on investing in climate solutions.

The company plans to increase the manufacturing capacity of PV cell and module using the latest Monocrystalline PERC technology along with a planned investment of over Rs 1200 crore over the next 2 years.

"We are excited to have a credible partner like GEF Capital on board and the timing of investment is critical for us to capitalise the huge growth potential presented by the industry," Surender Pal Singh, Founder and Chairman, Premier Energies.

Chiranjeev Saluja, Managing Director, said, "We are extremely upbeat about the progressive policy changes brought about by GOI in this sector. I am confident about meeting the growth expectations of our stakeholders, and at the same time we will continue to strive to improvise on sustainable sources of Clean Energy."

"Premier has demonstrated a strong commitment to deploying the latest technology to address the challenges of climate change. GEF Capital is proud to partner with Premier Energies to build a world class solar manufacturing business," Sridhar Narayan, a founder of GEF Capital and Managing Partner of the South Asia investment program, said.

The company is the second largest integrated solar photovoltaic cell and module manufacturer in the country and has completed 25 years of operations in 2020. In July, this year, the company unveiled their new state-of-the-art facility at E-City here with a capacity of 750 MW solar cell & 750 MW solar module that produces MCCE textured multi-crystalline cells and modules, Mono PERC cells and modules as well as polycrystalline cells and modules.

Solar cell manufacturing sector has lately witnessed unprecedented interest from strategic investors led by progressive Government driven initiatives like Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) policy, Basic Customs Duty (BCD) and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme under the Atmanirbhar initiative of the Centre. The investment from GEF Capital, an ESG focussed fund, is significant since this investment could be seen as a trendsetter amongst the private equity.