WASHINGTON, June 30, 2016 – The World Bank Group is moving to help India deliver on its unprecedented plans to scale up solar energy, from installing solar panels on rooftops to setting up massive solar parks. This will catapult India to the forefront of the global effort to bring electricity to all, mitigate the effects of climate change, and set the country on a path to become the ‘India of the future’.
“The world must turn to (the) sun to power our future,” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the historic COP21 climate conference in Paris last year. “As the developing world lifts billions of people into prosperity, our hope for a sustainable planet rests on a bold, global initiative.”
Unveiling its own bold initiative, India pledged that it would derive at least 40% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2030. This includes plans for the development of 100 GW of solar energy by 2022, an extremely ambitious target considering the world’s installed solar power capacity in 2014 was 181 GW.
Supporting India’s solar push is a key part of WBG President Jim Yong Kim’s agenda as he visits the country this week. Over FY 2017, the World Bank hopes to provide more than $1 billion to support India’s solar plans.
“India’s plans to virtually triple the share of renewable energy by 2030 will both transform the country’s energy supply and have far-reaching global implications in the fight against climate change,” said Kim. “Prime Minister Modi’s personal commitment toward renewable energy, particularly solar, is the driving force behind these investments. The World Bank Group will do all it can to help India meet its ambitious targets, especially around scaling up solar energy.”