World Bank & India signs loan agreement to scale-up India’s energy efficiency program

World Bank & India signed a loan agreement to uplift India’s energy efficiency programme: Details, Aim, Purpose, Highlights

World Bank and the Government of India on 28th August 2018 have signed a $220 million loan agreement and an $80 million guarantee agreement for the India Energy Efficiency Scale-Up programme.

The World Bank’s $220 million loan agreement with EESL will have a 5-year grace period and a maturity of 19 years.

The India Energy Efficiency Scale-Up programme will be implemented by the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), will help scale-up the deployment of energy saving measures in residential and public sectors, strengthen EESL’s institutional capacity and enhance its access to commercial financing.

The programme will largely tackle the financing, awareness, technical and capacity barriers faced by new energy efficiency programmes and support the Union Government’s UJALA programme.

The programme will help increase private sector participation in energy efficiency, including through private sector energy service companies.

Under the Programme, the EESL will deploy 219 million LED bulbs and tube lights, 5.8 million ceiling fans, and 7.2 million street lights, which will be supplied by private sector manufacturers and suppliers.

The investments under the programme are expected to help avoid lifetime greenhouse gas emissions of 170 million tons of CO2 and contribute to avoiding an estimated 10 GW of additional generation capacity.

This would be over 50 percent of the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency target of 19.6 GW indicated in India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Accord.