India Signs $100 Million Deal with World Bank to Develop Solar Energy Parks

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): India has signed a $98 million loan agreement and a $2 million grant agreement Monday to boost investments in various solar power projects across the country. The Shared Infrastructure for Solar Parks Project will finance the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA), which in turn will grant sub-loans to various states to invest in solar parks. The agreement to this effect was signed by Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary (MI), Department of Economic Affairs and Hisham A. Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank India.

The total project cost is estimated at $100 million, which will be financed by $75 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), $23 million from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and $2 million as a zero-interest CFT grant. The IBRD loan will have a maturity of 19 years with 5-year grace period. The CFT loan will have a grace-period of 10 years and a maturity of 40 years.

The project aims to support the government’s goal to achieve the target of 175 Gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy by 2022, by installing large-scale solar parks with estimated capacity of around 100 GW. The first solar parks under the scheme will be commissioned in Rewa and Mandsaur districts of Madhya Pradesh, with targeted installed capacities of 750 MW and 250 MW respectively.

The project plans to install similar solar parks in other states including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Haryana. These parks will be mostly under the Solar park Scheme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India.