New Delhi: Declaring that India wanted a solar revolution not just in the country but across the world and announcing the establishment of a “Solar Technology Mission”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced the allocation of a whopping $1.4 billion as part of its Line of Credit for 27 solar projects in 15 developing countries.
Mr Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired the founding conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in the national capital that is being attended by over 20 heads and deputy heads of government, a majority of them African.
Mr Modi said, “We want a solar revolution not just in India but the world... India will begin the solar technology mission to bridge the gap in solar technology.”
Interestingly, 23 out of these 27 projects for which Mr Modi offered financial assistance are in African countries where observers point out that India has been trying its best to counter Chinese influence.
The remaining four projects are in India’s neighbourhood of which two each are in Bangladesh (worth a total of $180 million) and Sri Lanka ($100 million).
This is apart from 13 solar development projects — either completed or under implementation — under Indian Line of Credit worth $143 million in African countries.
The proposed solar projects abroad are also expected to boost the Indian economy since 75 per cent of these have to be sourced from India as per the guidelines.
The $1.4 billion will be part of the $2 billion under the Indian Line of Credit that will be allocated and in turn part of the $10 billion for development projects abroad that have been “pledged” by New Delhi earlier.
The solar projects pertain to energy for infrastructure such as health centres, high schools, hand-pump boreholes, power plants, street-lighting projects and drinking water-supply located in countries such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo, Ghana, Mali, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles and Rwanda A total of 32 countries have both signed and ratified the agreement while another 30 have just signed but not ratified it as yet.
