The world’s largest international financier for renewable energy, the European Investment Bank, has confirmed new backing for investment across India, including onshore wind, offshore wind and solar projects.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) said it will increase support for onshore wind in India by expanding an existing lending programme with the State Bank of India, has approved a new credit line with Yes Bank to accelerate private investment in wind and solar projects and expects to work closely with Indian partners to support offshore wind projects.
The clean energy financing was confirmed by European Investment Bank vice president Andrew McDowell at an offshore energy investment conference in New Delhi.
“Scaling up renewable energy investment is crucial for economic growth, improving access to energy and addressing climate change and support for renewables is a key priority for the European Investment Bank - the EU Bank, here in India,” Mr McDowell said.
“The EIB is pleased to host our first offshore wind investment conference in New Delhi and bring together technical and financial expertise from across India and the European Union’s unique global experience in the sector. We look forward to broadening co-operation with Indian partners to support new renewable energy projects in the months ahead and enabling offshore wind to contribute to clean power generation in the country.
“The European Union and India share a common goal of tackling climate change. India has huge renewable energy resources and harnessing India’s abundant natural resources is crucial for sustainable development. Supporting energy investment is a key focus of the European Union’s India strategy announced this week and my colleagues are working closely with Indian partners to further develop India’s offshore wind sector.
“This conference demonstrates the European Union’s firm commitment to support expansion of clean energy in India and as the Bank of the European Union, the European Investment Bank has a unique technical and financial experience that is already backing transformational renewable energy projects across the country,” said His Excellency Tomasz Kozlowski, European Union Ambassador to India.
Government officials, policy experts, business leaders, public and private sector project promoters and financial professionals attended the European Investment Bank’s first offshore wind investment conference in India. The EIB has a unique track record supporting expansion of offshore wind over the last 15 years and the conference enabled experience from successful offshore wind investment to benefit India.
Technical experts from the EIB highlighted how the public sector can accelerate deployment of innovative renewable energy technology and identified infrastructure, skills and financial mechanisms that have enabled offshore wind to become a key source of clean energy in European countries.
Alongside the conference the European Investment Bank and State Bank of India formally agreed to build on successful co-operation to finance renewable energy and provide new support for wind energy projects across India by expanding an ongoing financing initiative to support onshore wind projects.
Under the agreement, promoters of onshore wind projects will benefit from long-term low-cost financing under a dedicated €600M (US$680M) renewable energy financing programme already supporting large-scale solar investment across India.
Preliminary discussions with promoters in a number of Indian states have already identified schemes that could benefit from the expanded EIB-SBI financing.
Over the last year, close co-operation between the European Investment Bank and Yes Bank identified solar power projects and windfarms across India that will benefit from a dedicated renewable energy credit line, backed with €80M of EIB financing. Following successful progress in allocating this financing a second renewable energy credit line is currently being finalised and expected to be rolled out in the coming months.
In 2017 EIB provided €4.4Bn for renewable energy investment worldwide and in recent years has supported projects across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. Since support for climate-related investment became a formal priority in 2010, the EIB has invested more than €130Bn globally, supporting more than €600Bn in climate action investment.
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