Britain’s development finance institution, British International Investment (BII), has surpassed a landmark $1 billion in climate-related investments in India, cementing the country’s position as one of the world’s most consequential battlegrounds for the global energy transition. The milestone, which builds on a series of high-profile deals with Indian and Asia-focused clean energy developers, signals a deepening strategic commitment by the UK to India’s ambition of reaching 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 — and net-zero emissions by 2070.
Spanning solar manufacturing, utility-scale wind and solar deployment, and battery energy storage, BII’s India portfolio has expanded significantly over the past 12 months, anchored by two major transactions that underscore both the scale of opportunity and the urgency of the challenge.
Manufacturing the Backbone: $100 Million Into ReNew Photovoltaics
In May 2025, BII announced an INR 8,700 million (approximately $100 million) investment in ReNew Photovoltaics Private Limited, the solar manufacturing subsidiary of leading Indian decarbonisation company ReNew Energy Global. The deal marked BII’s first-ever investment in solar manufacturing in India — and a deliberate shift from simply funding power generation to strengthening the industrial infrastructure that supports it.
At the heart of the investment is the construction of a new 4 GW TOPCon solar cell facility in Dholera, Gujarat, one of India’s designated smart industrial cities. This expansion will bring ReNew Photovoltaics’ total manufacturing capacity to approximately 6.4 GW of modules and 6.4 GW of cells — a self-sufficient supply chain capable of feeding both ReNew’s own development pipeline and third-party customers.
The Dholera facility will sit alongside an existing operational 6.4 GW solar PV module plant in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and a 2.5 GW solar cell facility, also in Dholera. Together, these plants will produce between 4.0 and 4.5 GW of modules annually, with surplus capacity available to external buyers. Supply agreements already concluded with marquee customers including NTPC — India’s largest power utility — and Shakti Pumps highlight the commercial credibility of the platform.
Beyond capacity, the deal carries a substantial social dividend: over 2,000 direct new jobs are expected to be created as a result of the expansion, reinforcing the dual mandate of BII as both impact investor and commercial financier.
Sumant Sinha, Founder, Chairman and CEO of ReNew, commented: “We are delighted to have BII as an investor in our solar manufacturing business. This partnership underscores our commitment to delivering high-quality, top-tier products while making strategic investments that drive sustainable growth and create long-term shareholder value. Venturing into manufacturing was a strategic decision aimed at securing our supply chain, particularly as India advances its objective of indigenising the solar supply chain.”
The investment directly aligns with India’s Make in India initiative and supports the government’s broader objective of reducing the country’s dependence on imported solar components — a vulnerability that has periodically exposed India’s renewable energy sector to global supply chain disruptions.
Scaling the Grid: $75 Million Behind Blueleaf Energy’s India Pipeline
Months later, in October 2025, BII completed a separate $75 million financing facility with Blueleaf Energy, an Asia-focused independent power producer, to advance a portfolio of utility-scale renewable energy projects across India. The facility forms part of a larger $477 million investment programme that will integrate 837 MW of wind and solar capacity alongside 415 MWh of battery energy storage — a combination increasingly recognised as critical to managing the intermittent nature of renewable generation.
In total, Blueleaf’s India projects supported by BII’s financing are expected to deliver nearly 2 GW of clean power capacity, generating over 3.2 billion kWh of clean electricity annually. At that scale, the projects could displace millions of tonnes of carbon emissions over their operational lifetimes while providing reliable, affordable power to Indian businesses and households.
The deal is structured as a financing facility — meaning BII provides access to capital that Blueleaf can draw down as individual projects reach financial close, offering flexibility suited to the complex development timelines of large-scale infrastructure in emerging markets.
A Strategic Relationship, Not a One-Off Transaction
The milestone of $1 billion in Indian climate finance does not represent a single moment but the culmination of a long-term strategic relationship. BII — formerly known as CDC Group — has been investing in India’s energy sector for over two decades. Earlier investments include a $16 million stake in Green Infra, a developer of wind and solar farms operating in some of India’s lower-income states, which expanded access to clean power in regions often overlooked by mainstream capital.
Looking ahead, BII’s Strategy 2026–2031 positions India as a central pillar of its climate finance agenda. The institution is launching British Climate Partners (BCP), a dedicated vehicle designed to channel £6–7.5 billion of private co-investment into the energy transition across India and South-East Asia. The ambition reflects a broader conviction within BII that blended finance — combining public development capital with private institutional money — is the most scalable mechanism for bridging the enormous funding gap facing developing economies in the energy transition.
India’s installed renewable energy capacity has grown at a remarkable pace, but reaching the 500 GW target by 2030 will require an estimated $300 billion in cumulative investment over the decade. The country’s power system transformation demands not only new generation capacity but grid modernisation, storage infrastructure, and a domestic manufacturing base capable of delivering components at the required volumes and quality.
BII’s portfolio addresses each of these pillars — generation through Blueleaf Energy, manufacturing through ReNew Photovoltaics, and grid services through battery storage integration. It is, by design, a systems-level approach to energy transition finance.
Why India, Why Now
India’s clean energy opportunity is both enormous and uniquely complex. As the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases and a country where hundreds of millions still lack reliable electricity access, India occupies a singular position in global climate negotiations — simultaneously a major part of the problem and one of the most consequential arenas for solutions.
The Indian government has shown consistent ambition in its renewable targets, but the path to 500 GW requires solving multiple challenges simultaneously: attracting international capital at low cost, building domestic manufacturing capacity, training skilled workforces, and ensuring grid infrastructure keeps pace with generation growth.
For BII, India also represents a market where developmental impact and commercial returns are not in tension. The clean energy sector has matured sufficiently that institutional-grade investments can generate competitive risk-adjusted returns while delivering measurable reductions in carbon emissions and direct improvements in energy access.
The British government’s broader foreign policy commitment to the UK-India relationship — including the recently concluded UK-India Free Trade Agreement — adds a diplomatic dimension to BII’s investment programme, positioning clean energy cooperation as a pillar of the bilateral relationship for the coming decade.
British International Investment (BII) is the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, wholly owned by the UK government. With a portfolio of over £7 billion in more than 60 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, BII invests in businesses that create productive, sustainable, and inclusive economies in developing markets. Its mandate combines commercial returns with measurable development impact, supporting job creation, infrastructure development, and the transition to clean energy. BII’s climate strategy is anchored by a commitment to delivering £500 million in green energy commitments across South and South-East Asia by 2026, as part of a longer-term ambition to mobilise billions in private climate finance through British Climate Partners. Website: www.bii.co.uk
ReNew Energy Global Plc is one of India’s largest and most diversified decarbonisation solutions companies, with an operational portfolio spanning wind, solar, hydro, and energy storage assets. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Gurugram, ReNew has a total capacity of over 13 GW across its commissioned and under-development pipeline. Through its manufacturing subsidiary, ReNew Photovoltaics, the company operates integrated solar module and cell production facilities in Rajasthan and Gujarat, supporting India’s domestic clean energy supply chain. ReNew serves utilities, industrial customers, and government entities, and is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Website:
Blueleaf Energy is an independent power producer focused on advancing the energy transition across Asia. Headquartered in Singapore, the company develops, owns, and operates utility-scale solar, wind, and battery energy storage projects across multiple Asian markets, including India, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. Blueleaf combines deep regional expertise with a rigorous sustainability framework, targeting high-impact clean energy projects that deliver reliable power while meeting international ESG standards. The company works with institutional capital partners to structure bankable, scalable renewable energy platforms suited to the complex regulatory and market environments of Asia’s fastest-growing economies.
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