India development group awards $4.2M funding for Renewable Microgrids in rural villages
Staff and Wire Reports
A Colorado-based renewable energy firm has gained more than $4 million in debt financing from India as the start to deploy more than 100 solar power microgrids in that nation.
Husk Power Systems has closed on 310 million INR ($4.2M U.S.) in debt financing from the India Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA). The company expects to raise an additional $18 million this year to finance deployment of 140 microgrids in the states of Uttar Pradesk and Bihar.
The goal for Husk is about 1,300 microgrids in operation throughout India and Africa by 2025. It has been building projects in India since 2008.
IREDA is a state-owned, non-banking financial institution under Indian government control and fund renewable projects. The $4.2 million loan is the largest so far for rural microgrids, according to Husk.
“The IREDA financing demonstrates the Government of India’s vision in making microgrids an integral part of its net-zero goal put forward at COP26,” said Husk CEO and Co-Founder Manoj Sinha. ”This is a huge validation of Husk Power’s leadership in being the first company to achieve commercial scale. The IREDA funding will give Husk a much-needed boost to achieve our target of expanding our microgrid fleet 10 times by 2025.”
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Husk recently signed an energy compact with the United Nations, committing to build 5,000 microgrids with 1 million connections by 2030 in India, Nigeria and other countries in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Indian line of credit was provided to IREDA by German development bank KfW.
The nation is home to nearly 400 GW of installed electricity capacity, but rural communities are challenged by grid disruptions, weather and other factors.
Husk Power Systems offers microgrid generation and distribution on a pay-as-you-go basis. Their renewable power plants are typically in the 20 to 250 kW capacity range.
