With Euro 150 million, India’s renewable energy projects to get financial push from Europe

New Delhi, March 11: Signing a loan agreement worth Euro 150 million, European Investment Bank (EIB) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) Ltd shook hands for financing renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in India. The line of credit is for the tenure of 15 years including a grace period of 3 years. More than 1.1 million households are expected to benefit from clean energy produced with these funds. 

The loan agreement was signed by K S Popli, Chairman and Managing Director, IREDA and W. Hoyer, President, EIB in the presence of R K Singh, Union Minister of State (IC) Power and New & Renewable Energy and Anand Kumar, Secretary, MNRE.

Speaking of India’s fascinating journey to electrify every single village, R K Singh said, “There are villages in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh where you track on foot for three to four days to reach. Our aim is to bring electricity to even these remote places. We have decided to go green, as we have a responsibility to future generations and the planet.”

Highlighting the fact that renewable energy (RE) has now become economically viable, he said that companies bidding for RE projects are getting funds from all over the world. Today, many countries want us to share our experience in this field.”

Anand Kumar, Secretary, MNRE said that two factors- efficient technology and easy finance, are important for the success of renewable energy sector. He expressed confidence that India will exceed its target of 175 GW renewable energy by 2022.

K S Popli, CMD, IREDA said that the speed with which the second line of credit was negotiated shows the mutual confidence and comfort that EIB and IREDA had developed after working with each other for last 4 years. Moreover, the EIB has extended this line of credit without insisting for sovereign guarantee from Government of India, which also shows their commitment and confidence in the sector, he added.

W. Hoyer, President, EIB appreciated India’s role in International Solar Alliance and its commitment to Paris climate deal. He said that with much sunlight, solar energy is evidently a solution here. Tomasz Kozlowski, Ambassador of the European Union to India was among the dignitaries present along with other senior officials of MNRE, IRDEA and EIB.