The World Bank has approved an $890 million financing package for India’s rooftop solar drive, adding outside firepower to a government plan meant to put panels on 10 million homes and expand the country’s clean-energy workforce.
The lender said its board cleared the funding on July 9 to accelerate India’s PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana program, which targets rural and urban households. The program is designed to lower electricity bills, support domestic manufacturing of rooftop solar equipment and widen access to clean power beyond large utility-scale solar farms.
The financing includes an $820 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a $60 million concessional loan from the Clean Technology Fund and a $10 million grant from the IBRD’s Livable Planet Fund. The World Bank also said it will mobilize $4.2 billion in private financing through commercial loans for households installing rooftop systems.
India has committed to reaching net zero by 2070 and increasing non-fossil-fuel-based energy resources to 60 percent of its electricity mix by 2035. But residential solar has lagged behind the country’s fast-growing large-scale solar sector, leaving household rooftops as a target for the next phase of expansion.
Paul Proccee, the World Bank’s acting country director for India, said the institution has supported India’s rooftop solar sector for more than a decade, helping mobilize more than $2 billion as installed capacity rose from 500 MW to more than 27 GW.
“This new financing will help India scale up residential solar, while creating job opportunities across the supply chain and installation ecosystem,” Proccee said.
The World Bank said the program could create 1.7 million job opportunities across renewable energy manufacturing, installation and services. Moez Cherif, the program’s task team leader, said the effort would remove financial barriers for households.
“Through collateral-free financing, households can install solar power and significantly reduce their monthly electricity bills,” Cherif said.
