Dubai: The Abraaj Group said on Wednesday it has entered into a partnership with the Aditya Birla Group, to build a gigawatt-scale renewable energy platform focused on developing solar power plants in India.

Abraaj will invest in the platform through one of its Funds and the Aditya Birla Group will invest through Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited, the private equity firm said in a statement.

The partnership comes at an opportune time in the growth of the Indian renewable energy sector.

The demand for power in India is growing as a result of the country’s expanding population, increasing urbanization and related economic activities.

At the same time, the Indian government has created favourable regulatory policies to increase the use of renewable energy, including setting an explicit target to achieve 100 GW of solar power capacity by 2022, compared to the current installed capacity of 4GW. Together, these factors create a compelling investment opportunity for the private sector, which can help meet this significant demand for renewable energy.

The new solar power platform will bid for projects tendered at national and state auctions, with the intent to develop and operate utility-scale solar power plants that can provide clean and cost-effective electricity to the national grid across several key states.