UK Climate Investments to pour GBP 200m in India, Africa

A green joint venture between the UK government-backed Green Investment Bank Plc (GIB) and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will invest up to GBP 200 million (USD 304m/EUR 284m) in India and Africa.

The announcement was made last week, as part of a package of collaboration on energy and climate change agreed by the two countries during the Indian prime minister's visit to the UK.

The joint venture, called UK Climate Investments, will invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in developing nations, with the initial target regions being India, South Africa and parts of East Africa. Its budget comes from DECC's GBP-3.8-billion International Climate Fund and investments will be made on commercial terms. GIB and DECC agreed terms on the GBP-200-million programme earlier this year.

The JV has already lined up a pipeline of projects, the first of which involve the construction of a number of solar farms in India's southern states, GIB said on Friday.

The package of collaboration also involves GBP 3.2 billion of commercial deals, joint research programmes and initiatives to share technical, scientific, and financial and policy expertise in the areas of clean technology, renewables, gas and nuclear, DECC said in a statement. "The two countries also agreed on the need for an ambitious and comprehensive global agreement to tackle climate change in Paris," the department added.

In one of the commercial deals, UK solar developer Lightsource Renewable Energy will invest GBP 2 billion to design, install and manage around 3 GW of solar power infrastructure in India over the next five years. CEO Nick Boyle said in a statement that India would be a key market for Lightsource in the future.

The UK Solar Trade Association (STA) called on the UK government to also back the domestic industry so that it can take advantage of the massive global opportunity opening up in solar. It said that most British companies risked "being cut off at the knees, for want of just a few years extra support at home."

At the UN climate conference in Paris, India's prime minister Narendra Modi is due to launch his International Agency for Solar Policy and Application initiative, which is expected to attract USD 100 billion (EUR 93bn) of solar business by 2020, the STA noted. Modi has invited 110 nations to join the initiative.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.521/EUR 1.418) (USD 1.0 = EUR 0.932)

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