The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), working on energy access and transition in developing countries, is helping Indian states build their renewable energy capacity by bringing together small and medium players.
“GEAPP is in the process of finalising the collaboration with the Government of Odisha for the implementation of distributed renewable energy (DRE) in the state,” GEAPP India Vice President Saurabh Kumar told Financial Express.
India’s ambitious plan to take its installed renewable energy (RE) capacity to 500 giga watt (GW) by 2030 will require a scaling up of implementation capacity at the state level with project aggregation, he noted.
GEAPP, the alliance of philanthropic organisations, governments, development partners and private sector, is already working in Maharashtra to enable the implementation of solar projects of 1,000 mega watt (MW) across the state.
GEAPP is collaborating with Mahatma Phule Renewable Energy and Infrastructure Technology Ltd (MAHAPREIT) to help implement 500 MW of rooftop solar for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and 500 MW of ground-mounted decentralised solar under the PM-KUSUM programme.
“The partnership aims to support MAHAPREIT in managing, designing and developing investment projects. The roadmap has been jointly drawn for the implementation of the 500 MW tender for PM-KUSUM and Mukhyamantri Saur Krushi Vahini Yojana. “This will benefit the state in three ways – bringing an investment of Rs 2,500 crore in solar energy, reducing CO2 emissions by 400,000 tonne annually and supporting 100,000 farmers,” Kumar said.
The Maharashtra government has announced the target of installing 200,000 solar agricultural pumps in the state. Also, the program will target enterprises across the 105+ SME clusters with a scaling-up potential of 2.5 GW.
GEAPP in India is supporting MAHAPREIT by appointing a project management unit (PMU), which will help conduct land surveys, identify land parcels, aggregate demand, and conduct tenders to onboard EPC players.
PMU will also monitor the programme execution and liaise across government departments on behalf of MAHAPREIT.
MAHAPREIT and GEAPP plan to launch a cluster-led SME solarisation initiative with an objective of 500 MW of decentralised solar. Sangli, Nasik, Ichakranji and Kolhapur have been identified as the focus districts for the first leg of the programme.
Discussions with local MSME associations have been initiated. Post the success of the first phase, the programme will be scaled across other districts of Maharashtra.
The alliance, which brings together philanthropic organisations like the IKEA Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund, aims to expand clean energy access to one billion people, enable 150 million new jobs and reduce 4 gigatons of future carbon emissions by 2030.
“We believe clean energy is development: without it, every other form of progress is undermined, so we’re building a movement to unlock a new era of inclusive green economic growth that accelerates universal energy access while enabling the global community to meet critical climate goals during the next decade,” Kumar said.
In India, GEAPP seeks to complement the government’s climate goals like facilitating India’s start-up network to address critical clean energy barriers, developing a resource centre for energy efficiency that will enable a global scale-up, and digitisation of the grid.
GEAPP’s priorities in India also include driving climate finance by catalysing investments in sectors including decentralised solar and grid scale renewables, supporting India’s long-term low emissions growth strategy aligning with the 2070 net-zero commitments, facilitating low carbon transition pathways in key economic sectors such as the Indian Railway to help achieve their 2030 commitments, and driving innovation in clean energy operations.
