Rajnish Kumar, Chairman of SBI Bank address on financing grid connected rooftop Solar PV projects in association with World Bank in Mumbai Photo By Sachin Murdeshwar GPN NETWORK
MUMBAI, 30 October, 2017 (GPN) : State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest commercial bank, announced today the sanction of credit facilities amounting to Rs. 2317 crore with aggregate capacity of 575 MW to corporates towards financing Grid Connected Rooftop Solar projects under the SBI – World Bank (WB) Programme. In the conference organised by SBI on Grid Connected Rooftop Solar projects for large corporates of the Bank, the sanction letters were handed over to JSW Energy, Hinduja Renewables, Tata Renewable Energy, Adani Group, Azure Power, Cleantech Solar and Hero Solar Energy by Mr. Rajnish Kumar, Chairman SBI in the presence of top management of SBI and officials from the World Bank.
SBI has availed a line of credit of USD 625 million from World Bank for on-lending to viable Grid Connected Rooftop Solar projects undertaken by PV developers/aggregators and end-users, for installation of rooftop solar systems on the rooftops of commercial, institutional and industrial buildings. Implementation of the program by SBI will support the installation of around 800 MW of rooftop solar capacity. With the World Bank funded capacity development program, SBI is making efforts to expand and incentivize the market for rooftop solar power by way low cost financing. Financing is being provided to those with sound technical capacity, relevant experience, and creditworthiness, meeting SBI standards. SBI has so far sanctioned 43 projects with aggregate credit facilities of Rs. 2766 cr. under the programme. This would add 695 MW of solar rooftop capacity to the grid, and is a significant step towards meeting the Government of India’s target of 40 GW of solar rooftop installations.
With this program, SBI aims to contribute to the development of the burgeoning rooftop solar market in the country which until now was being held back by lack of targeted financing.
On the occasion, Dr. Nikit Abhyankar from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA presented on the global prospects of renewable energy including rooftop solar to increase awareness amongst large corporates about the business potential of renewable energy and opportunities available in the market. Ends
