Washington takes a shine to Delhi's solar mission

NEW DELHI: India and the US have announced a joint initiative to mobilise up to $400 million for lighting up a million Indian households by 2020 with renewable power.

According to the joint statement issued after discussions between PM 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.

Both have also committed to establishing the US-India Clean Energy Hub as the coordinating mechanism to focus US government efforts to increase renewable energy investments in India in partnership with leading Indian financial institutions.

A $40 million US-India Catalytic Solar Finance Programme, equally supported by both the governments, will also aim at providing liquidity to smaller-scale renewable energy investments, particularly in poorer villages that are not conn- ected to the grid. This initiative could mobilise up to $1 billion worth of projects.

There was also a commitment to expand the handholding support to Indian utilities that are scaling up rooftop solar projects and continuation of successful cooperation with USAID on ‘Greening the Grid’.

The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate on research and development, including through the announcement of an upcoming $30 million public-private research effort in smart grid and grid storage.