BII and CIP Launch $300 Million Platform to Accelerate Indian Renewable Energy

British International Investment and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners have jointly launched North Star, a $300 million platform focused on developing solar, wind, hybrid and energy storage projects in India. The platform represents the first investment made through British Climate Partners, a £1.1 billion climate finance initiative designed to mobilise private capital into clean energy across Asia.

North Star launches with $150 million committed by each of BII and CIP, targeting renewable energy projects at the development and construction stages where Indian developers often face the greatest capital constraints. India is pursuing a more than threefold increase in renewable energy capacity by 2030, but achieving that target requires closing an estimated $160 billion annual funding gap. Despite rapid expansion in renewable energy tenders, many Indian developers lack the development capital and technical capacity to bring projects through to construction and commercial operation, a gap that North Star is specifically designed to address.

The platform reflects India's growing centrality to global clean energy investment, with the country representing one of the world's largest renewable energy markets and a key pillar of global net-zero ambitions. CIP's commitment comes through its Growth Markets Fund II, launched in December 2023 to focus on clean energy development across high-growth middle-income markets in Asia, Latin America and EMEA. BII's involvement through British Climate Partners signals the UK government's intent to direct climate finance toward coal-dependent Asian economies including India, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

British Climate Partners is expected to mobilise £3.5 billion of private capital over the lifetime of its investments, with North Star serving as its first deployment. The platform intends to attract additional private capital by demonstrating the commercial viability of development-stage renewable projects in India, potentially unlocking financing from institutional investors who currently perceive the market as too risky. The platform is anticipated to generate more than 4 million MWh of clean energy annually and avoid approximately 4 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year once its portfolio of projects reaches full operation.

Key figure — $160 billion estimated annual funding gap for India's 2030 renewable energy targets