Banks pledge to lend ₹25 trillion by 2030 for green transition

Gandhinagar: India's ambitious energy transition plans got a boost on Monday with banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) committing to finance loans worth ₹24.8 trillion ($295.25 billion) for the switch by 2030.

Data provided by the union ministry of new and renewable energy showed that state-run REC Ltd led the pack by committing to finance ₹6 trillion worth of loans during the RE Invest 2024 conclave, followed by Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) and the State Bank of India, which pledged ₹5 trillion worth of loans each.

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Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) said they will lend ₹3 trillion and ₹1.86 trillion.

Earlier on Monday, addressing the inaugural session of the fourth edition of the conclave, the union minister for new and renewable energy Pralhad Joshi said renewable energy companies have committed to invest about ₹32.45 trillion by the end of the decade.

“India is not only the fifth largest but also the world's fastest growing economy. The growth is driving an unprecedented demand for energy. We are committed to meeting this demand, sustainably. These investments are a testament to our pledge,” the minister said.

570GW by end of decade

Renewable energy players have committed to install about 570 GW of renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade.

Data provided by the ministry showed that Reliance Industries has pledged to install 100 GW renewable energy capacity and state-run NTPC 41.3 GW, both by 2030.

Gujarat-based Torrent Power Ltd, has committed 10 GW of installed renewable energy (RE) capacity by 2030, with an investment of ₹57,000 crore. As part of these commitments, Torrent Power on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Gujarat for the of 5 GW solar, wind or solar-wind hybrid project at Dwarka district in Gujarat.

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At the fourth edition of the conclave organized by MNRE in partnership with CII, Renew committed to install 40 GW of green power capacity by the end of the decade.

Sumant Sinha, Chairman and CEO, ReNew said: “We have committed to double our installed capacity and we will increase our module and cell manufacturing to 6 GW each and we will make green hydrogen. Currently, in our commissioned capacity of 10 GW is roughly divided equally between solar and wind. In our pipeline, which is around 12 GW, in that about 75-80% is solar. Going the ratio may be much more skewed towards solar."

RE Invest is an annual renewable energy investment conclave. The inaugural day of the three-day conclave was also attended by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and Goa CM Pramod Sawant among others.

(Rituraj Baruah is in Gandhinagar on the invitation of MNRE.)

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