US Ex-Im Bank to lend India $575 mn for solar projects
13 Aug 2011
India will become the biggest recipient of loans next year from the US Export-Import Bank for clean-energy projects, including $575 million loans for solar energy projects that could generate an estimated 315 megawatts.
''India could become the bank's largest market next year in the renewable-energy industry'', said Craig O'Connor, director at US Export-Import Bank's office of renewable energy.
India, which aims to build 20,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2022, but projects worth more than $3 billion have found it difficult to get loans from Indian financial institutions.
The Washington, DC-based bank, which is the official export credit agency of the US government is authorised by the US Congress to lend as much as $100 billion to fund overseas projects that buy US goods and services.
It has approved $1.4 billion (about Rs6,300 crore) in new deals for India in this financial year, raising its overall lending to the country to $5.5 billion, according to a Bloomberg report.
It recently approved loans to Azure Power for importing thin-film photovoltaic modules from Arizona-based First Solar Inc., a deal worth $16 million for a 5 MW solar power project in Rajasthan.
Punj Lloyd was given a $9.2 million long-term loan to import similar equipment from Colorado-based Abound Solar for constructing a 5 MW solar plant also in Rajasthan.
During the first nine months of 2011, the bank approved 173 deals worth $1.4 billion of US exports to India.
