India and United States have joined hands to mobilise up to $400 million for lighting up a million households using solar power in the country.
According to the joint statement issued after discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama, both governments will equally set up a $20 million US-India Clean Energy Finance initiative for mobilising funding for New Delhi’s renewable energy plans.
India has set a target of achieving 1.75 GW of renewable energy under the National Solar Mission and Modi has been trying to woo as many investors to come and be involved in the solar energy domain in the country.
A $40 million US-India Catalytic Solar Finance Programme, which will be supported by both the governments will also look at providing liquidity to smaller scale renewable energy investments. By this initiative, the government can mobilise up to $1 billion worth of projects.
There are many US companies who are already present in the solar segment in India and recently, California based 8minutenergy Renewables LLC has announced that it will set up 4 GW of solar power capacity in the country. We can expect more such companies to come and invest in the renewable energy sector in the future.
By Atanu Kumar Das
