10 Jan 2023
The World Bank has approved US$165 million in additional financing to support 450MW of rooftop solar deployment in India and make distributed generation systems in the country more affordable.The development bank has already provided US$648 million for India’s Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar Program that focuses mainly on commercial and industrial rooftop PV systems.This new bout of funding, however, will be used to help the programme scale to include residential solar too, targeting 450MW of rooftop solar capacity in the residential sector.“Importantly, the project will provide concessional financing to developers and residential consumers and mobilise additional private capital. It aims to mobilise US$71 million of private capital, in addition to the US$151.61 million that has been mobilised so far,” the World Bank said.The Indian government has pushed rooftop PV as a means of achieving its aim of sourcing 50% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2030 and has a rooftop solar target of 40GW.During Q1 2022, rooftop solar accounted for 15% of all deployment in India, according to Mercom India Research. Rooftop installations in the country have fluctuated massively over the past few years, pushed up and down by rising costs, supply chain factors and the impact of the pandemic.
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