OeEB finances solar rooftop projects in India

More than 300 million people in India still do not have access to electricity. In light of the country's expected economic growth and increased industrialization, improving access to energy is crucial for India's economic development.

India's energy supply is still largely based on fossil fuels. In order to decrease dependence on imported fossil fuels, to reduce CO2 emissions and to improve energy supply, the government aims to increase the share of renewable energy in the energy mix. Solar energy plays a major role in this strategy: By 2022, the government aims to achieve 100 GW of power capacity generated from solar energy – 40% of which is expected to be derived from solar rooftops or small-scale solar parks.

OeEB supports this goal and, together with IFC, FMO and Proparco, provides a USD 135 million loan to Azure Power, one of the largest solar developers in India. The funds will be used to finance the construction and operation of over 500 small-scale solar power and solar rooftop projects with a total capacity of 200 MW.