Greenko has secured an INR55bn (US$693m) loan from the Indian state-owned financial institution Power Finance Corporation (PFC) to build India's first off-river energy storage project, which will have a capacity of 1.2 GW and will be located in the state of Andhra Pradesh, southeastern India. The storage project if fully owned by Greenko and is expected to cost a total of INR76bn (US$957m).
The 20-year loan has been priced at 11% per annum interest and the power generator will have to start repaying the loan only after the project has been commissioned. After commissioning, it will get a one-year moratorium during which it will not have to make any payments to the lender.
India plans to add 79 hydropower projects with a total capacity of 30 GW, including 11 pumped-storage projects totalling 8.7 GW, during the period 2019-2020 to 2029-30. The country has an installed pumped storage capacity of 4.9 GW (end of 2021).