EIB to give Euro 200 m for renewable energy projects.

Renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in India are set to get a push with a Euro 200 million line of credit from the European Investment Bank given to the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA).

'The line of credit is secured by a sovereign guarantee from Government of India,' an official statement from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said. The total loan period is 20 years.

Satish B Agnihotri, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, said that this line of credit will facilitate IREDA in financing existing and new renewable energy projects.

IREDA, the financing arm of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, has financed over 2,000 projects worth about Rs. 22,500 crore.

The Agency raises resources from various bilateral and multilateral agencies as well as domestic sources through both taxable and tax-free bonds.

Magdalena Alvarez Arza, Vice-President, European Investment Bank, said that since 1993, which the Bank started funding Indian projects, India has now become the second-largest recipient of the Bank's funds.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has a mandate of increasingly displacing fossil fuel with renewable energy sources in order to combat increasing carbon emissions as well as higher demand for power.

This loan, too, will be used to generate low-carbon power in the country.

HBL