UK’s Green Investment Bank To Invest £200 Million In India, Africa

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The United Kingdom’s Green Investment Bank has announced its first investment plan in the emerging renewable energy markets of India and Africa.

The Bank will invest £200 million in renewable energy projects in India, South Africa, and East African Green Investment Bankcountries, through the UK Climate Investments – a joint venture between the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) and the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

One of the first streams of investment will target solar power projects in India, specifically in the southern states of the country. A number of southern Indian states have ambitious solar power capacity addition targets and robust policies in place to achieve them. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana have all auctioned several hundred megawatts of solar power capacity in the recent past, and the region is expected to contribute significantly to India’s target to have 100 GW operational solar power capacity by 2022.

South Africa offers a similar “rapid growth” story. The overwhelming response to the country’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program has placed the country among the world’s top 10 utility-scale solar power markets. South Africa has so far auctioned or allocated 92 renewable energy projects with over 5 GW capacity, and the government plans to auction 6.3 GW of additional capacity in the near-term.

Some other countries which will benefit from the investment plan are Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania. The Bank has selected these markets because demand for new generation capacity is higher and renewable energy technology has emerged as a commercial alternative to the fossil fuel-based power generation technology.

The Green Investment Bank is a ‘for profit’ bank and it makes complete business sense for it to invest in markets where governments are still offering regulatory and financial support to development of renewable energy infrastructure, unlike in the UK!


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Saurabh

An avid follower of latest developments in the Indian renewable energy sector.

Saurabh has 1037 posts and counting. See all posts by Saurabh