Solar Microgrids in Rural India, Receiving US$4 Million from IREDA to Construct 140 Microgrids in UP & Bihar

The loan has been secured by Patna based Husk Power Systems, a rural clean energy service provider in Africa and Asia and operator of the largest fleet of solar energy community microgrids in India. Besides the IREDA loan, Husk expects to raise an additional $18 million in debt in 2022 to fuel accelerated project deployment, while also kicking off fundraising for a Series D equity round in Q1. The company has built a robust project pipeline in both India and Africa, and expects to have about 1,300 grids in operation by 2025 across multiple markets.

The IREDA loan to Husk represents the biggest debt financing for rural microgrids in India to date. IREDA is a state-owned non-banking financial institution (NBFI) under the administrative control of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). It promotes, develops and extends financial assistance to renewable energy projects.

The IREDA (Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited) financing demonstrates the Government of India’s vision in making microgrids an integral part of its net-zero goal put forward at COP26 , the UN climate change conference. This is a huge validation of Husk Power’s leadership in being the first company to achieve commercial scale. The IREDA funding will give Husk a much-needed boost to achieve our target of expanding our microgrid fleet 10x by 2025.

The new India debt, part of a line of credit provided by German development bank KfW to IREDA to assist developers in scaling off-grid energy projects, will be used to finance 140 microgrids in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where Husk has been serving rural communities since 2008, including thousands of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Husk lately signed an Vitality Compact with the United Nations, committing to construct 5,000 microgrids with 1 million connections by 2030 in India, Nigeria and different nations in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Based in 2008, Husk Energy Methods has been a pioneering agency offering power entry in rural areas, the place it began off through the use of rice husk because the uncooked materials to generate energy. The agency has moved slowly but certainly to increase its wings, first to Africa, and now, to off grid photo voltaic microgrids, leveraging its immense expertise with rural communities and infrastructure necessities.

The agency usually units up energy vegetation of 20-250kW measurement, with a pay as you go mannequin. It claims to have damaged even at a company degree in 2016, regardless of the difficult nature of its markets. It’s buyers embrace Dutch funding financial institution FMO, Engie, Shell Ventures, Acumen and extra.

The writer of this article is Dr. Seema Javed, a known Environmentalist, Journalist and Communications Expert