Brookfield-Backed Evren Signs 750 MW NTPC Deal — India's Biggest Bet Yet on 'Firm' Renewables
The DealEvren, the renewable energy platform jointly held by Brookfield and Hyderabad-based Axis Energy Group, announced on August 3 that it has signed a 750 MW power purchase agreement with NTPC spanning. . .
The DealEvren, the renewable energy platform jointly held by Brookfield and Hyderabad-based Axis Energy Group, announced on August 3 that it has signed a 750 MW power purchase agreement with NTPC spanning solar, wind and battery storage assets across Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. The company describes it as among the largest renewable energy PPAs by capacity secured in India to date. Once operational, the underlying project is expected to generate roughly 2. 5 billion units of clean power annually and offset 1. 8 million tonnes of CO2 a year. The agreement builds on an earlier 300 MW tranche of the same Kurnool-based hybrid project, for which Evren secured about $600 million in financing from a syndicate of global lenders that includes SMBC, Standard Chartered, MUFG, DBS, Crédit Agricole CIB and BNP Paribas. Coupled with a a ₹7,500 crore sanction from state-owned REC, reportedly REC's largest-ever funding commitment to a private renewable project. Evren now holds an 11 GW India pipeline, with 3. 5 GW under construction across solar, wind and storage. Why Firm and Dispatchable, Not Just SolarWhat distinguishes this deal from the wave of standalone solar PPAs signed over the past five years is the FDRE — Firm and Dispatchable Renewable Energy structure itself: wind, solar and battery storage combined into a single contracted product designed to deliver power reliably through peak demand windows, not just whenever the sun happens to shine. NTPC's tariff for the project's first tranche was fixed at ₹4. 65/unit, a premium over plain solar auctions that reflects the value of guaranteed delivery rather than intermittent supply, and at a level that made it competitive with thermal as well. That structure is precisely what drew a six-bank international lending syndicate to underwrite construction risk on a project that, only three or four years ago, would have struggled to attract the same quality of capital as a pure-play solar IPP. Global lenders are not pricing megawatts; they're pricing predictability. Predictable, contracted, round-the-clock renewable output is a materially different credit story than merchant or even PPA-backed solar alone. "Securing this 750 MW PPA reflects the scale, quality, and execution capabilities Evren has built over time. " — Suman Kumar, CEO, EvrenThe Read for the Wider MarketFor SaurEnergy readers, the Evren-NTPC deal is worth reading alongside India's broader BESS and Energy Storage Obligation push: DISCOMs are now mandated to progressively procure storage-backed power, rising toward 4% of supply by FY2029-30, with several states already moving faster. FDRE-structured projects like Evren's are effectively getting ahead of that curve — bundling the storage requirement into the generation contract itself rather than treating it as an add on compliance cost. It also reframes what "bankability" means for the next wave of Indian renewable capacity. As standalone utility-scale solar tariffs compress toward their floor and oversupply concerns grow in some states, global capital is visibly rotating toward hybrid, storage-backed structures that can guarantee delivery — a trend Indian developers without wind or storage capabilities in their own portfolios may find themselves structurally disadvantaged against when competing for the largest PSU offtake contracts going forward.