World Bank lends $1.5 bn for green H2 market
World Bank lends $1.5 bn for green H2 market
New Delhi: The World Bank Friday approved a $1.5 billion loan to help India accelerate low-carbon energy development by promoting a market for green hydrogen as well as electrolysers and renewable energy penetration.
The green financing will allow the country to scale up renewable energy and encourage finance for low-carbon energy investments, said World Bank India country director Auguste Tano Kouame.
The bank's board of executive directors approved the second tranche of financing to support the country's low-carbon transition on Friday.
The Indian economy is expected to continue to expand at a rapid pace and decoupling this from rising emissions will require scaling up renewable energy, as per the bank.
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Focus on Energy Efficiency
The goal of the latest programme is to provide financing to support the government's policies and regulations that the government is putting in place to stimulate investment in energy transition, especially in green hydrogen and renewable energy, Kouame said.
"Our financing (operation) is less about directly providing money to the projects and more about providing support for advancing introduction of policies and regulations and technical assistance to the design of these interventions," he said.
The next step is to help the government mobilise more financing in the energy space with a focus on the private sector, he said. Beyond funding, the bank's energy programs will continue to look at renewable energy generation, especially offshore wind and floating solar. It will also look at energy efficiency and work with the government to make systems more efficient, such as green buildings.
The World Bank's programme in renewable energy is also aimed at helping integrate it into the grid, he said. The grid code should be amended to facilitate incorporation of higher proportion of renewable energy, he added.
The latest programme envisaged further green energy penetration through incentivising battery energy storage solutions that are required for round-the-clock clean power.
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