New Energy Nexus and cKers Finance Grow Investment Partnership to Build New Distributed Solar Segments in India
NEW DELHI, March 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The financial innovation program of New Energy Nexus announced that it is increasing its exposure in India by investing in the cKers Finance Sustainable Energy Bond (SEB).
"The falling cost of solar technology is democratizing availability of energy through distributed solutions. We are very excited to grow our partnership with cKers Finance, which has developed innovative financing products suited to the needs of these segments. Overall, they have helped deploy over $30 million in the last 24 months. Our fund has invested a total of $5 million into cKers Finance, which we think is excellent leverage to accelerate the development of new distributed solar segments," shared Danny Kennedy, Chief Energy Officer at New Energy Nexus.
"We have helped catalyze creation of over 45 megawatts of distributed solar energy assets across 100+ locations all over India. We have developed a range of financing products for emerging developers, renewable energy service companies- RESCOs, and clean-technology companies to enable them to grow. Our specialty is in being able to do smaller ticket-sizes, which most traditional financiers shy away from. And this year we are piloting even smaller ticket-sizes, for Small and Medium Enterprises- SMEs," said Pawan Mehra, Director and CIO of cKers Finance.
cKers Finance is working with a range of investors looking to deploy capital in the sustainable energy space, and in a short span of three years has become the go-to-financier for companies looking to raise debt capital.
"SEBs are specialized instruments that allow investors to have exposure exclusively to sustainable energy assets. Unlike traditional green bond issuances, SEBs are viable at smaller scales, which helps catalyze collaborative action and investments that are imperative to raising capital for distributed clean energy around the world," commented Shilpa Patel, Director of Mission Investing at the ClimateWorks Foundation, an advisor to New Energy Nexus.
The impact reporting measures of the bond have been designed with support from the Climate Policy Initiative and its Climate Finance Innovation Lab. The methodology for measurement of impact and its attribution has been developed by the sustainability advisory firm, cKinetics.
The present funds are meant to catalyze the growth of distributed segments including residential and commercial solar systems, solar pumps, floating solar, solar cold chains and the like. Part of the proceeds will also be invested in emerging energy service company models (ESCO) that promotes energy efficiency.
About cKers Finance
cKers Finance (pronounced 'seekers') (www.cKersFinance.in) is a specialized Sustainable Energy (SE) finance company that operates in the rapidly growing segments around clean energy and energy efficiency. Established in 2017, cKers specializes in making project finance viable at a small scale for decentralized renewable energy; and develops innovative asset-backed financing approaches. It is also supporting standards for sustainable energy bonds and building data around risk metrics for new segments.
cKers is a PACESetter Awardee (instituted jointly by the Indian and US Governments) for driving Sustainable Energy Finance Innovation. It is backed by global sustainability firm cKinetics, cleantech catalyst Infuse Ventures and IIM Ahmedabad's Center for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship.
About New Energy Nexus
New Energy Nexus (newenergynexus.com) strives towards an abundant world with a 100% clean energy economy for 100% of the population in the shortest time possible. To achieve this goal, we support diverse clean energy entrepreneurs with funds, accelerators and networks. We started in California and now operate programs in New York, China, India, Southeast Asia and East Africa.
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