The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has signed an agreement with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to infuse $100 million into a project designed to unlock private sector initiatives for the creation of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) power capacity across India.

The agreement with GCF was signed on the sidelines of ongoing COP24 in Katowice, Poland. The GCF had approved this $100 million line of credit for the development of solar rooftops by NABARD in March this year.

According to a NABARD release, “The $250 million project will be executed by Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd. Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd., will receive the GCF support through NABARD, which is the National Implementing Entity (NIE) for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)-promoted fund that supports the efforts of developing countries to respond to the challenge of climate change.”

This will not be the first time that a private firm will be provided support to boost growth of rooftop solar PV in India.

In October 2017, the State Bank of India (SBI) and the World Bank announced ₹23.2 billion ($357 million) in credit facilities for seven Indian solar companies to be used to develop grid-connected solar rooftop PV projects with an aggregate capacity of 575 MW.

In June 2017, to boost the growth of rooftop solar PV, under a World Bank program, the State Bank of India (SBI) announced that it would provide ₹4 billion (~$62.2 million) to private developers finance 100 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar projects in India.

In May 2017, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $100 million (~₹6.46 billion) loan to the Punjab National Bank (PNB) to finance large solar rooftop PV systems on industrial and commercial buildings in several Indian states.

In May 2016, the World Bank and SBI signed agreements for a $625 million (~₹40.2 billion) facility to support India’s grid-connected rooftop solar program.

Image credit: NABARD