Mr. Piyush Goyal Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy and Mines and US Ambassador Mr Richard Verma in India launched new joint initiative of US-India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) Initiative.
It would help in unlocking OPIC financing and mobilize public and private capital to expand access to distributed clean energy projects.
Letter of Intents were signed and exchanged between MNRE and OPIC in presence of Shri Piyush Goyal for the creation of a $20 million for US-India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) Initiative, equally supported by the United States and India would support projects which, upon long-term financing and deployment, and would qualify for the support of long-term debt financing from OPIC.
The U.S.-India Clean Energy Finance facility (“USICEF”) would support project preparation activities for distributed solar projects in order to unlock OPIC financing and mobilize public and private capital to expand access to distributed clean energy solutions that will benefit disadvantaged communities in India and contribute to India’s ambitious renewable energy and energy access goals.
USICEF builds on the success of other project preparation facilities to support renewable energy in emerging markets.
Through this initiative, project developers pursuing mini-grid, distributed rooftop and off-grid solar projects, as well as smaller-scale grid connected solar projects would be benefitted.
During the event, Mr Udai Khemka presented Clean Energy Finance Forum (CEFF) Report. The report has made recommendations which will help solicit greater investment into the renewable energy sector. Some of the key cross cutting recommendations includes to boost and Accelerate “Open Access” Markets; Improve PPA Bankability; Improve Ease of Access to Domestic Banking and Capital Markets; Encourage International Debt and Equity Investments and Mitigate Currency Risk.
