India-based energy company Reliance Power has secured a loan of up to $40m from the Asian Development Bank (ABD) to finance the 40MW Danhanu solar project.
The facility will utilise photovoltaic (PV) technology and, when complete, will be the largest of its kind in the country. It will be located in the state of Rajasthan in west India and is scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2012.
It is the first solar project that Reliance has worked on and is part of the company's plan to expand its renewable energy portfolio.
In September, the US Export Import Bank awarded $87m to the development, which is expected to cost around $147m.
Michael Barrow, director of ADB's private sector operations department, said, 'India's solar energy potential is one of the highest in the world and this plant will help kick start large-scale, private-sector solar electricity generation in the country.'
The ABD is committed to pushing solar energy in India and last September provided a $100m loan for the state of Gujarat to accelerate its roll-out of large-scale solar projects. The funding will support the implementation of infrastructure to collect and distribute electricity from new solar facilities in the region.