British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution, has announced the launch of North Star, a $300 million investment platform engineered to accelerate the development and construction of utility-scale renewable energy projects across India.
The initiative is anchored by a $150 million commitment from BII, matched by an equal $150 million allocation of private capital from Danish global fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), sourced through its Growth Markets Fund II.
North Star represents the inaugural investment under British Climate Partners (BCP), a £1.1 billion climate finance programme introduced by BII in April 2026 as part of its new five-year strategy.
Unveiled at the Global Partnerships Conference in London, BCP is projected to mobilise an additional £3.5 billion in private institutional capital over its lifespan. The broader facility is designed to target large-scale capital deployment into climate solutions within fast-growing, coal-dependent Asian economies, including India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
While sovereign renewable energy tenders have expanded rapidly across India, many domestic developers face bottlenecks due to a lack of early-stage development capacity and construction liquidity. North Star is specifically structured to de-risk these early phases, providing the capital necessary to bring wind, solar, hybrid, and energy storage projects to commercial operation.
The capital injection comes as India seeks to more than triple its renewable capacity by 2030, an ambition that faces an estimated $160 billion annual funding shortfall.
“We have heard what our partners have been calling for,” said Baroness Chapman, the UK Minister for Development. “Countries want to have more control, move beyond aid, attract investment… and take charge of their own futures. Traditional development finance alone cannot meet that call… We need to bring new ideas and a broader coalition of partners to the table.”
The platform’s portfolio of wind, solar, and storage assets is projected to generate over 4 million MWh of clean electricity annually upon completion, offsetting an estimated 4 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year.
Leslie Maasdorp, Chief Executive of BII, emphasised that the joint venture aligns with the institution’s mandate to act as a catalyst for private markets. “By partnering with CIP, we are crowding in private capital from day one of this new platform and I expect further private investment in North Star over the following years,” Maasdorp stated.
Peter Jannik Sjøntoft, Partner in CIP’s Growth Markets Funds, added that the transaction solidifies the asset manager’s position in the region. “By establishing a platform alongside BII, we are creating a strong foundation to deploy long‑term capital into scalable, high‑impact renewable investments that contribute meaningfully to India’s decarbonisation and energy security goals.”
