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Distributed Renewable Energy Programs in India

CPI manages the US-India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) initiative: India’s first project preparation and pipeline development facility that catalyzes long-term debt financing to support promising distributed solar projects.

Since 2017, USICEF has identified and supported nearly 50 early-stage businesses across 20 states in India. These companies received USD 5 million in grant-based funding, which mobilized more than USD 285 million in debt to help scale these renewable energy start-ups into successful commercial enterprises, creating more than 670MW of new renewable energy capacity, along with an estimated 20,000 jobs.

Given the success of USICEF, CPI has initiated a new ICEF program to further catalyze financing for small and mid-scale distributed renewable energy generation and applications in India. Like its predecessor, ICEF will be managed as a private sector project preparatory facility with a returnable grant structure, aiming for a 40x debt mobilization rate based on the success of the original USICEF program.

Both these initiatives are led by Dhruba Purkayastha.

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Latest work

Blog

Blended Finance for Climate Investment in India - Equity & Debt

In this blog, we describe how a select set of equity and debt blended finance instruments could be structured to make catalytic investments in India’s climate change sectors, attracting commercial capital towards projects that contribute to sustainable development, while providing financial returns to investors.

Blog

Podcast: Dhruba Purkayastha on the future of Distributed Renewable Energy in India

In this podcast, Dhruba Purkayastha, our India Director deliberates on the future of distributed renewable energy in India and its market potential.

Blog

Podcast: Dhruba Purkayastha on the Distributed Solar Sector in India

In this podcast, Dhruba Purkayastha, our India Director discusses the state of the distributed solar sector in India.

Blog

Going beyond the grid: The future of DRE in India

Distributed renewable energy has a major role in India’s clean energy access and sustainable development goals, but is yet to realize even a small fraction of its potential.

Publication

USICEF 2020 Impact Report

In just three years, USICEF has identified over 30 early-stage businesses across 20 states in India, mobilized USD 200mn in debt financing, and has committed a total of USD 5.1 million in grant-based funding to these projects.

Blog

Solar Municipal Bonds: Unlocking India’s Energy Potential

A recent study by Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), and Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), creates a case for municipal entities to promote rooftop solar in India by issuing green bonds in capital markets.

Blog

Blending finance for risk mitigation

Our analysis also evaluates blended finance initiatives in clean energy, diving in-depth into a subset of them, to understand how barriers are currently being addressed and to identity any remaining gaps.

Blog

Greening institutional investment in India

A recent study by CPI attempts to develop a business case for institutional investors to invest in the Indian renewable energy sector, identifying key barriers to investment, and proposing potential pathways forward.

More results +

Team

Dhruba Purkayastha

India Director & USICEF Director

Vivek Sen

Associate Director

Kushagra Gautam

Manager

Angel Jacob

Senior Communications Consultant

Rob Kahn

Director, Global Communications
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