Indian solar rooftop projects get $100 million financing

Solar rooftop
A loan worth $100 million will finance large solar rooftop systems on industrial and commercial buildings in India.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Punjab National Bank (PNB) have signed an agreement under which PNB will use the ADB funds to give further loans to companies dealing with solar energy. This loan has been guaranteed by the Government of India.
The ADB has already approved a loan of $500 million for financing  Solar Rooftop Investment Program (SRIP)  in 2016 and the present loan of $100 million is a part of this.
“With a sharp drop in the price of solar panels, India has a huge potential to expand its use of solar rooftop technologies,” said ADB Country Director, India, Kenichi Yokoyama, ADB Country Director in India who signed the loan on behalf of ADB.
“The programme will contribute to the government’s plans to increase solar power generation capacity, and also help India meet the carbon emission reduction target in line with its commitment at the recent global climate change agreement.”
India has a capacity of 124 Gigawatt solar capacity.
“The project is aligned with the goal set by Government of India to increase the country’s solar rooftop capacity by 40 GW by 2022, and would also contribute to Government’s efforts to promote solar energy solutions as affordable and sustainable energy sources,” said Joint Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance Raj Kumar, who signed the Guarantee Agreement for Government of India.
The entire Solar Rooftop Investment Program will cost $1 billion, inclusive of ADB $500 million funding, and the projects financed under the program will install solar rooftop system of around 1 GW capacity.
Increasing use of solar energy will reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by about 11 million tons of carbon dioxide.