The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed to providing a $100m loan to the Indian state of Gujarat to speed the roll-out of large-scale solar power plants in the region.
The ADB has now approved the financing for the Gujarat Solar Power Transmission Project.
The funds garnered from the ADB will be used for a substation as well as transmission lines and equipment to collect and distribute solar power generated at the Charanka Solar Park.
Naoki Sakai, senior climate change specialist at ADB, 'By putting in reliable power transmission facilities in the solar park, ADB will help draw in private sector developers, while providing a model which can be replicated to scale up solar power in a significant manner in India.'
The Charanka facility has an output of 500MW and is just one of a series of large scale solar energy parks that Gujarat plans to build.
The loan has a 25-year term, with a five-year grace period and annual interest set in accordance with ADB's Libor-based lending facility.