Energetica India 89 - May 2020

Mani Khurana Senior Energy Specialist, World Bank “The cash flows of consumers are disrupted, which might lead to delays in capital investment decisions in rooftop solar. However, it could also be an opportunity for the renewable energy service companies (RESCO) to fill the gap, as many businesses would look for options to reduce their operational costs. And rooftop solar could well fit the bill”. E nergetica I ndia : Could you please help introduce Energetica India readers to SUPRABHA initiative? M ani K hurana : World Bank has provided a line of credit (US$ 625 million)to State Bank of India to provide concession- al loans for installation of rooftop solar photo-voltaic (PV). These solar PV in- stallations will provide clean, renewable energy, and reduce GHG emissions. The project includes a $12.93 million techni- cal assistance component, Sustainable Partnership for Rooftop Solar Acceler- ation in Bharat(SUPRABHA), through which, the World Bank in cooperation with MNRE, is supporting 17 states to build an ecosystem for sustained roof- top solar market. It includes establishing supportive policy and regulations, creat- ing processes and institutional capaci- ties, and raising consumer awareness on the benefits of rooftop solar. E nergetica I ndia : What are the objec- tives of the programme? M ani K hurana : A sector-wide targeted ap- proach will help provide the necessary impetus for rooftop solar growth. • Uniform rooftop solar policies and regulationsacross thestates will allow the sector to flourish. • Traditional financial institutions are risk-averse and are unwilling to make large lending commitments to solar roof- top as there is no track record of technol- ogy performance available for banks to assess risks. • The paucity of institutional capaci- ties—the capacity has to be built in dis- tribution companies,SERCs and financial institutions about the solar rooftop tech- nology. • Processesfor grid connection of the rooftop PV system needs to be more ef- ficient—this includes application forms, procedures, data requirements, and ser- vice standards for responding to custom- er requests. Energetica India discusses the SUPRABHA initiative from the World Bank and MNRE with Mani Khurana, Senior Energy Specialist, World Bank energetica INDIA- May_2020 23 INTERVIEW