Canadian investor Brookfield is in advanced discussions to invest up to $1 billion through multiple tranches in Avaada Ventures Pvt Ltd (AVPL), parent entity of Avaada Group. The first tranche of $400 million has been paid out. As programs scale up, the remaining $600 million will be allocated depending on performance-related milestones. Upon completion of the entire $1-billion transaction, Brookfield may end up as one of the top two shareholders of Avaada.
The Group was founded by a Harvard Alumnus, Vineet Mittal, in 2017. It has business interests in Renewable Energy, Solar Module Manufacturing, Electrolyzer manufacturing, Green Ammonia Production, Green Methanol, and Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
In July 2021, Thailand’s state-owned utility PTT Group invested $454-million in Avaada Energy, the solar arm of the Avaada Group, and holds a 43 percent stake in the unit. Avaada is also negotiating with existing investor, PTT, to deploy another $300 million.
AVPL will house the upcoming solar cell and module manufacturing company as its subsidiary. The group’s cell/module plans include a facility with an annual production capacity of 5 GW, expected to become operational in 2023. Avaada intends to scale up its capacity to 30 GW by 2030, along with backward integration into polysilicon, ingots and wafers.
In August last year, Avaada signed a memorandum of understanding with India’s western state of Rajasthan’s Department of Industries and Commerce to set up a green ammonia facility and renewable energy power plant in Kota.
Ammonia is a high value commodity today. The island economies of Asia – Japan, Korea – having limited renewable energy, break it down and use hydrogen for their industrial net zero targets, while Europe – struggling with food inflation after the Ukraine war – wants its nitrogen value to make fertilizer.
