Azure Power


Azure Power Global Limited is an independent power producer, a developer and an operator of utility and commercial scale solar PV power plants headquartered in New Delhi, India. The company was founded in 2008 by entrepreneur Inderpreet Wadhwa. The company sells energy to government utilities, and independent industrial and commercial customers in India. Azure Power developed India's first utility scale solar project in 2009 in Awan, Punjab. The company also installed India's first megawatt scale solar rooftop project in Gandhinagar, Gujarat which was awarded the top 10 Public Private Partnership, 2013 by International Finance Corporation. Azure Power has a total capacity of over 5 GW in 24 states.

History

The company was founded by Inderpreet Wadhwa in 2008. Inderpreet, who was then a successful software professional in Silicon Valley, foresaw the opportunity in Indian energy market as the country receives about 300 clear, sunny days in a year. Azure Power’s 2 MW Punjab facility was the first utility-scale solar power plant in India in 2009. The project provides electricity to 32 villages with over 20,000 people in Awan, Punjab. Azure Power also successfully commissioned India’s first MW scale rooftop solar power Project in Gandhinagar, Gujarat in 2013. In 2015, Azure commissioned a 100 MW solar plant in Rajasthan. This is the first of its kind large capacity solar power project with 60 MW executed exclusively with Indian technology and manufacturing making it the largest ‘make in India’ solar plant. Azure Power raised capital from investors like Foundation Capital, Helion Ventures, IFC and German development bank DEG. Today, Azure Power has a total capacity of over 5 GW across 24 states, and is amongst the largest developers and operators of utility scale solar assets in India. The company has been expanding at a CAGR of 135% since May 2012.

People

In November 2011, Azure Power was awarded the US Department of Commerce’s Export Achievement Certificate, at SolarCon, Hyderabad. In August 2012, Hanwha Q Cells Co., the South Korean solar panel manufacturer, tied up with Azure Power to invest and build a Solar Plant in India to generate enough electricity to supply 18,000 homes. In 2014, Azure Power selected Accenture to implement an SAP Enterprise Resource Planning solution to support and drive growth in its solar generation business. As part of the agreement, Accenture provides implementation services in support of the SAP solution to Azure Power to help strengthen its business processes and improve planning, budgeting, forecasting, supply chain and revenue projections.

IPO

On 12 October 2016, Azure Power launched an Initial Public Offering, enabling the first listing of Indian energy assets on the New York Stock Exchange. With this, Azure Power also became the first renewable energy company to IPO in the US since August 2015. Azure Power tied-up approximately US$161 million as part of its pre-IPO, initial public offering and concurrent private placement. The majority of the proceeds were used to continue development of solar power plants in India.

Green Bond

In August 2017, Azure Power issued an inaugural green bond offering, maturing in 2022. The bond was certified by Climate Bonds Initiative as green bond and was the first solar green bond to be offered by a company with only solar power assets out of India.

Commissioned projects

Below are Azure Power’s some of the commissioned projects:

2009