A series of awareness generation workshops to be organised in six Indian States on promoting business models for increasing penetration and scaling up of solar energy will be launched in Haridwar on Tuesday.
Being organised at a hotel in Haridwar in close cooperation with Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the workshop is aimed at spreading awareness about the benefits of Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) energy application and the support provided by GEF-UNIDO-MNRE project.
According to the workshop organisers, Global Environment Facility and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (GEF-UNIDO) in partnership with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) have launched the project of promoting business models for increasing penetration and scaling up of solar energy to promote investment in CST technologies for industrial applications in the country. It is especially designed to complement MNRE’s CST programme by helping to remove barriers associated with adoption of CST technologies by spreading awareness, building capacity and providing financing solutions.
In 2014-15, the industrial sector alone consumed 42 per cent of the crude oil imported that year.Use of solar energy applications focused for industrial sectors presents a significant opportunity for the country to address growing concerns of energy security and reduce carbon emissions. The CST technologies
are suited for heating and cooling applications for industrial processes.
Availability of financing to the owners of industrial units- be it small or big enterprise- plays a vital role in their successful transition towards renewable energy.Given the size of the market and the opportunities it presents, the GEF-UNIDO-MNRE project is preparing a financial scheme to provide a single window system for accessing financial assistance. As the project fund manager, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) would support the beneficiaries by bundling the MNRE’s subsidy and the loan at sub-vented interest, thereby providing access to 75 per cent of project cost for application of these technologies.