Four US foundations – the Packard, MacArthur and Hewlett Foundations and the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment – are working with the Indian government to fund two clean energy finance initiatives. They aim to provide $30 million to the two initiatives, an amount that will be matched by the Indian government.

The first of the two, the US-India Clean Energy Finance initiative, aims to raise up to $20 million to fund feasibility studies, project finance documentation, land surveys and customer due diligence procedures to make solar power projects ‘finance ready’. The initiative is then expected to leverage around $400 million from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US government’s development finance institution, and other investors to implement the projects.

Renewable-energy mini-grid in rural India.

The second initiative, the US-India Catalytic Solar Finance Program, aims to secure up to $40 million in capital, which will then leverage up to $1 billion in commercially oriented capital for solar energy projects.

Together, these two initiatives are expected to mobilize up to $1.4 billion in climate finance. The projects will bring power to 18,000 Indian villages that currently don’t have electricity. They will also help Prime Minister Modi deliver his promise to provide electricity to all Indians by 2019.

For more information
Foundation Center: http://tinyurl.com/CleanEnergyIndia
devex: http://tinyurl.com/MinigridsIndia