New Delhi

The World Bank Group has committed USD 890 million funding support to accelerate India's national programme for solar rooftops to bring clean energy to millions of homes and create 1.7 million job opportunities across the renewable energy manufacturing, installation, and services value chain.

The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors have approved the project, the multilateral funding agency said in a statement on Friday.

The financing package for the programme includes an USD 820 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), a USD 60 million concessional loan from the Clean Technology Fund, and a USD 10 million grant from IBRD's Livable Planet Fund, it said.

In addition, the World Bank will mobilise USD 4.2 billion in private financing in the form of commercial loans enabling them to install solar rooftops for households, it said.

India has committed to achieving net zero by 2070 and increasing non-fossil-fuel-based energy resources to 60 per cent of its electricity mix by 2035.

While large-scale solar has grown rapidly, residential solar adoption has been limited. To unlock this potential, the Government of India established the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana programme to incentivise solar rooftop installation for 10 million rural and urban households nationwide, reduce household electricity costs, and encourage local manufacturing of solar rooftop equipment.

"The World Bank has been supporting India's solar rooftop sector for over a decade, mobilising more than USD 2 billion to catalyse market growth from 500 MW to over 27 GW of installed capacity," said Paul Proccee, World Bank Acting Country Director for India.

This new financing will help India scale up residential solar, while creating job opportunities across the supply chain and installation ecosystem, he said.

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"The programme will transform the residential solar market by removing financial barriers and building the capacity of distribution companies, banks, and vendors to deliver integrated service solutions," said Moez Cherif, Task Team Leader of the programme.

Through collateral-free financing, households can install solar power and significantly reduce their monthly electricity bills, he added.