India’s solar mission to get over $1 bn World Bank loan

The World Bank has agreed to provide a loan of over $1 billion to support India's ambitious initiatives to expand solar energy through investments in solar generation, the Bank's largest financing of solar for any country in the world.

The announcement came as the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday.

 Modi emphasized the importance of adequate climate change financing for countries like India, which are consciously choosing to follow an environmentally sustainable path.

Dr Kim appreciated India's rapid progress in improving the ease of doing business and assured the Prime Minister that the World Bank would be proactive and fully support this agenda, said a government statement.

''These solar investments for India combined would be the Bank's largest financing of solar for any country in the world to date,'' said a statement from the World Bank.

''India's plans to virtually triple the share of renewable energy by 2030 will both transform the country's energy supply and have far-reaching global implications in the fight against climate change. The World Bank Group will do all it can to help India meet its ambitious targets, especially around scaling up solar energy,'' said Dr Kim, adding that Modi's personal commitment to renewable energy, particularly solar, is the driving force behind these investments.

In keeping with the Bank's commitment to support India's solar energy programme, the government of India and the World Bank on Thursday signed an agreement for the $625 million Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Program, said the World Bank statement adding that the project will finance the installation of at least 400 MW of solar Photovoltaic (PV) installations that will provide clean, renewable energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by displacing thermal generation.

The development of a $200 million shared infrastructure for solar parks project under a public-private partnership model is also under preparation.

''The Bank's support for India's solar projects will increase the availability of financing, introduce new technologies, build capacity for solar rooftop units and enable the development of common infrastructure, which will support privately developed solar parks in a number of states across India,'' the World Bank statement added.

International Solar Alliance
Besides, the World Bank Group also signed an agreement with the International Solar Alliance (ISA), consisting of 121 countries led by India, to collaborate on increasing solar energy use around the world, with the goal of mobilising $1 trillion in investments by 2030.

The agreement signed in the presence of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Power Minister Piyush Goyal establishes the World Bank Group as a financial partner for the ISA and sees the institution as using its global development network, global knowledge and financing capacity to promote the use of solar energy.

The ISA was launched at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in November last year by Modi and French President François Hollande.

India is the largest client of the World Bank Group. Between 2015 and 2016, the Group lent around $4.8 billion to India.