India’s green infra surge could spark export wave, says Macquarie’s Dooley

India’s rapidly expanding green energy infrastructure—particularly in renewable power, battery storage, and electric mobility—has the potential to be exported as globalcompanies look for alternatives, according to Mark Dooley, global head of Macquarie Asset Management Green Investments, Macquarie Group.

Indian firms could, thus, be supplying next-generation green technologies to international markets grappling with inflation and supply chain pressures, he said.

“One thing that was already clear to me is the potential of the industrial capability here to be outbound,” Dooley said in an interview with the Mint. “There is a huge investment agenda happening domestically. And you’ve got the industrial capacity to deliver that. That same capacity can become exportable.”

Macquarie would like to own buses on long-dated leases, wind farms, solar farms, utility-scale storage, charging assets, Dooley said. However, these assets are typically early-stage in India compared to more mature global markets, though the potential for growth is tremendous, he said.

“In the next two to three years, we’ll see wild growth,” Dooley said. “And the industrial players we’re speaking to are not just excited about the Indian market—they’re thinking about exports too.”

“You deploy at scale here—electric vehicles, charging units, battery storage—then you’ve got thousands of charging units, with real-world performance data,” Dooley said. “You can say: ‘Look! This works. And we can do it at this price.’ Why wouldn’t Australia want it? Or Southeast Asia? Or Europe?,” he added.

India’s aims to achieve 500 gigawatt of non-fossil-based energy capacity by 2030, covering renewables like solar, wind, biomass, and small hydro power, alongside nuclear and large hydro power.

The country currently has a total non-fossil capacity of 242.8GW, half of the total installed power capacity of 484.8GW, the Union ministry of new and renewable energy said on 14 July.

A green transition

According to Dooley, there’s a global hunger for well-priced, scalable supply of green energy.

“Inflation has made deployment more expensive. But if Indian industry can bring scale and efficiency to bear, it could reinvigorate the global supply chain—especially for emerging asset classes,” he said.

Over the past 15 years, Macquarie has invested about $4.2 billion of equity in India. Of this, around $1.1 billion is in green investments such as in Vibrant Energy and Blue Leaf, said Abhishek Poddar, India country head at Macquarie Group.

“Separately, we have stated that we intend to double down on our EV financing platform, Vertelo, where we intend to deploy over $1.5 billion over 10 years,” Poddar added.

Several other global infrastructure funds have also ramped up their green energy exposure in India. Brookfield Asset Management, KKR, Actis, and Global Infrastructure Partners have deployed capital in renewable power projects, including solar parks, wind farms, and emerging battery storage ventures.

Last year, Brookfield, for instance, invested over $200 million in Tamil Nadu-based renewable energy company Leap Green Energy, with an option to infuse $350 million more in the future.

Meanwhile, globally, Macquarie has been focussed on energy transition, moving from established assets in wind and solar into next generation technologies such as big-scale battery storage, sustainable aviation fuel, mobility solutions, carbon capture, biomethane, hydrogen and other segments. “Vertelo is supported by that strategy,” Dooley said.