Germany Offers India €1 Billion For Renewable Energy Grid
Germany and India have strengthened their cooperation in the renewable energy sector following German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent visit to India.
Germany announced that it would offer India financial assistance of €1 billion for the implement of the ambitious green energy corridors project — a network of transmissions lines dedicated to carrying power generated from renewable energy projects across India. However, it was not immediately clear if this assistance is in addition to the €1 billion loan from KfW that had been announced last year.
In December last year, KfW signed loan agreements worth €500 million with the Power Grid Corporation of India for construction of new power lines. The bank also signed contracts worth €125 million for the expansion of transmission lines in the states of Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, both rich in renewable energy resources and leaders in terms of installed capacity.
The Power Grid Corporation of India has already started work on the green energy corridors project, having operationalised the second phase of the green corridor program, and allocated a transmission project in Andhra Pradesh, while completing the tendering process for projects in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. All these states have completed multiple auctions under their respective solar power policies.
The green energy corridors are essential to making the ultra mega solar power projects successful. The Indian government is planning to set up 25 large-scale solar power projects with cumulative capacity of 20 GW. These projects would have capacity of up to 4 GW, making them among the largest power projects in the country across conventional and renewable energy technologies.
Transmission of power from renewable energy projects is also essential to achieve the national target of 15% renewable energy share in power consumption by 2022. India has set a target to have installed renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by 2022 and around 350 GW by 2030, accounting for 40% of the total installed power capacity.
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