India to set up $350m fund to finance solar projects

India will set up a $350 million fund to finance solar projects, Power Minister RK Singh said, as the country steps up efforts to achieve its ambitious target of adding 175 gigawatts (GW) in renewable energy by 2022.

India will need at least $125 billion to fund a plan to increase the share of renewable power supply in the country's grid by 2022, underlining the immense financing challenge ahead. The country, which receives twice as much sunshine as European nations, wants to make solar central to its renewable expansion. It expects renewable energy to make up 40 percent of installed power capacity by 2030, compared with 18.2 percent at the end of 2017.