Ex-Im okays USD 57.3mn loan for two Indian energy firms

The Export-Import Bank of the US has sanctioned a pair of loans totaling USD 57.3 million for two Indian energy companies to finance the export of American solar panels and ancillary services to India.

Solar Field Energy Two Private Ltd, a Mumbai-based company owned by Kiran Energy Solar Private Power Ltd, has been approved to receive a USD 23-million loan from the US Exim Bank for the construction of a 20-megawatt (MW) solar facility in Rajasthan.

Mahindra Surya Prakash Private Ltd, also Mumbai-based and owned by Kiran Energy and Mahindra Holding Ltd, will get a USD 34.3-million US Exim Bank loan to build two solar facilities (one of 20 MW and the other 10 MW) in Rajasthan as well.

"These important transactions will finance the purchase of American products and services and support jobs in our innovative renewable-energy sector," US Exim Bank chairman and president Fred P Hochberg said . "On top of that, US Exim's financing will contribute to India's drive to embrace clean-energy sources," he said.

The solar panels, which are manufactured by First Solar Inc of Tempe, Arizona, will be used in the construction of solar photovoltaic plants in Rajasthan. These transactions will support 200 US jobs at First Solar's manufacturing facility in Perrysburg, Ohio, the Ex-Im bank said in a statement. In 2010, India launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission in an effort to add 20,000 MW of installed solar capacity to the nationwide grid by 2020.

According to a 2012 report in the Wall Street Journal, nearly 300 million people in India live without electricity. India is one of US Exim Bank's nine key markets and accounted for approximately USD 7 billion of the Bank's worldwide credit exposure as of the end of FY 2011. In FY11 and FY12 to date, the bank authorised more than USD 330 million in finance for Indian solar projects.