The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved financing to accelerate India’s national program for solar rooftops to bring clean energy to millions of homes and create 1.7 million job opportunities across the renewable energy manufacturing, installation, and services value chain.
In India large-scale solar has grown rapidly, residential solar adoption has been limited. To unlock this potential, the Government of India established the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana program to incentivize solar rooftop installation for 10 million rural and urban households nationwide, reduce household electricity costs, and encourage local manufacturing of solar rooftop equipment.
Explaining the decision, Paul Proccee, World Bank Acting Country Director for India, said, “The World Bank has been supporting India’s solar rooftop sector for over a decade, mobilizing more than $2 billion to catalyze market growth from 500 MW to over 27 GW of installed capacity. This new financing will help India scale up residential solar, while creating job opportunities across the supply chain and installation ecosystem.”
The financing package for the program includes an $820 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), a $60 million concessional loan from the Clean Technology Fund, and a $10 million grant from IBRD’s Livable Planet Fund.
