Thursday 2 May 2013

Indian renewable firm gets $30m for clean energy projects

An Indian private power company has secured an investment worth $30 million (£19.25m) for the development of wind and hydropower projects in the country.

The agreement between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and NSL Renewable Power Private Ltd (NRPPL) will support projects that will generate 530GWh of electricity and cut carbon emissions by 400,000 tons every year.

The renewable firm will use the cash to partially finance the construction of the 100MW Tidong hydropower project in Himachal Pradesh and the 75MA Chilarewadi wind project in Maharashtra.

Lakshmi Venkatachalam, ADB’s Vice President for Private Sector and Co-financing Operations said: “India will increasingly need renewable energy to drive its development and the private sector will play a central role in developing the renewable energy sector to help the country achieve green growth.”

The investment is expected to help the Hyderabad-based renewable firm reach its 1,000MW target of operational renewable energy by 2017.

The agreement is ADB’s first equity investment in a private sector renewable firm in India and was signed yesterday in the run up to ABD’s 46th annual meeting in Delhi.