The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the financial arm of the World Bank, will lend $36 million for a 250 MW solar project by Mahindra Renewables Private Limited (MRPL) in Rajasthan. Mahindra Susten won the bids to develop 250 MW quoting Rs2.53 per kWh. The project is to be commissioned in stages starting September 2020, and the scheduled commercial operation date is October 25, 2020, Mahindra Susten is responsible for the engineering, design, procurement, and construction of the project while, Mahindra Teqo, will handle the O&M for the project.
Mahindra Susten Private Limited, the solar energy arm of the Mahindra Group, is a solar EPC company that offers extensive expertise in energy solutions and engineering. The company started operations in 2011 by offering turnkey EPC solutions for solar projects. So far, it has commissioned over 1,500 MW of solar projects while another 2 GW of projects are under execution.
Mahindra Susten’s business model is to build and sell assets. In August 2019, the company was reported to be in the process of selling 160 MW of solar assets. The sale process could fetch over Rs 10 billion and Mahindra is likely to use the sales proceeds to develop its pipeline of around 1 GW.
In June 2019, Mahindra Susten partnered with Japan-based Mitsui & Co to jointly develop and operate solar power projects in India. The Mahindra Group holds a 51 per cent stake in the JV, Marvel Solren Private Limited, with Mitsui owning the remaining stake. Marvel currently operates four distributed solar projects in India with a combined capacity of 16 MW and aims to expand it to 150 MW by 2023.