KfW Entwicklungsbank, the German state development bank, agreed to loan 250 million euros ($356 million) to build India's biggest solar park.
The bank, based in Frankfurt, will help fund the 125- megawatt Shivajinagar Sakri plant with a loan to Maharashtra State Power Generation Co., KfW said in a statement. The park, which can be expanded to 150 megawatts, powering the homes of 400,000 people, will cost as much as 370 million euros, it said.
That would equal the capacity from all 30 plants approved in India's first national auction of photovoltaic projects in December. The country aims to achieve 20,000 megawatts of solar capacity by 2022 as it seeks to curb carbon emissions while satisfying surging demand for energy.
The "reduced-interest" loan, the terms of which weren't disclosed, is KfW's largest for a solar project, Wolfram Schweickhardt, a spokesman for the bank, said by phone. The loan was provided on behalf of Germany's Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Maharashtra State Power, the utility that will develop and own the project, will contribute about 120 million euros.
India operated 82 megawatts of photovoltaic capacity by the end of 2010, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance figures. The world's largest installation is the 92-megawatt Sarnia plant in Canada and the biggest announced is the 750-megawatt Calico project in California, the data show.
Lenders including the Asian Development Bank have also supported India's solar ambitions, with the Manila-based institution saying in December it would partially guarantee loans for solar projects worth as much as $425 million.
