Apraava Energy has secured $92m financing to install smart meters and drive energy transition in India.

India’s power sector is undergoing a transformation to enhance efficiency, reduce losses and drive sustainability. While progress has been made, distribution utilities continue to face challenges such as high distribution losses. To address this, the government of India launched the $35bn revamped distribution sector scheme (RDSS).

A key component of RDSS is the rollout of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), a smart meter network designed to improve grid efficiency, promote transparency and deliver a more sustainable power distribution system by integrating renewable energy. The government has set a target of installing 250 million smart meters by 2026.

Apraava offers end-to-end AMI and believes it is well placed to accelerate the smart metering adoption in the country under the scheme. Its AMI footprint spans across several states with a target of installing around 7.8 million smart meters.

“Just as India stands at a pivotal moment in its energy transition journey, Apraava is charting a new course by diversifying into the AMI business, a critical step towards advancing the nation’s power sector,” said Samir Ashta, chief financial officer at Apraava Energy. “With this financing, we’re scaling up our smart metering efforts. We are proud of our track record in AMI, including achieving India’s first RDSS project operational go-live in Assam and the country’s fastest go-live in Himachal Pradesh.”

The $92m is made up of $46m each from British International Investment (BII, www.bii.co.uk) and Standard Chartered (www.sc.com). The money will support the growth of Apraava’s AMI footprint and contribute to India’s energy transition goals.

The financing will enable Apraava to install more than two million smart meters in homes and businesses. The smart meters will help make India’s grid system more efficient, reliable and sustainable. This will enable better integration of renewable energy sources and help lower aggregate technical and commercial losses and thereby reduce emissions.

“The partnerships with Standard Chartered and BII empower us to accelerate this journey and help build a low-carbon, customer-centric energy future,” said Ashta. “This extends our philosophy of energy in action as we collaborate to make energy smarter, more transparent, affordable and reliable for customers.”

Apraava (www.apraava.com) is India’s leading integrated energy provider, headquartered in Mumbai. It is jointly owned by the CLP Group and La Caisse (formerly CDPQ). Founded in 2002, Apraava has evolved from being a single-asset business to a forward looking, climate-conscious organisation spread across 13 states in India. Its portfolio comprises 3.4GW of installed capacity which includes 1200MW of wind and 250MW of solar energy projects, a 1320 MW coal-fired power plant and two power transmission assets.