Making Solar Products Affordable and Reachable

1. Making Solar Products Affordable and Reachable September 21, 2010 Solar Conference & Exhibition

2. Contents About Winrock International India Background Status WIIs initiatives The way ahead

3. About WII A non-governmental organization established in 1998 Affiliated to Winrock International, US  Staffed by 65 professionals drawn from diverse disciplines Presence in India and South Asia

4. Mission & Program Areas To develop and implement solutions that balance the need for food, income and environmental quality Program areas Energy and Environment Natural Resources Management Climate Change Outreach

5. Our Work on Solar Energy Policy Advocacy Research Demonstration projects Study tours Capacity building Outreach through newsletters

6. Background Over 5,000 remote un-electrified villages 93,117 un-electrified villages (as on July 31, 2010, source – www.powermin.nic.in) Reliability of power in already electrified villages We are looking at a minimum of 25 million households without access to any form of energy High upfront costs RETs slowly getting mainstreamed into energy sector reforms ‘Scale-up’ remains a major challenge; poor replicability of ‘successful’ models Persuading villagers a major challenge despite their understanding the utility / benefit

7. Status so far Initiatives of other agencies (NGO’s / Private sector not included)

8. WIIs Initiatives Solar Finance Capacity Building Alliance (SFCBA) Renewable energy commercialization (RECOMM) Accelerated Renewable Energy Commercialization (ARECOMM) Commercializing Renewable Energy in India SPV promotion in Uttar Pradesh SARI/E Small Grants Program (Phase 1 & 2)

9. Solar Finance Capacity Building Alliance (SFCBA) Objective Sensitize Indian commercial banks towards potential lending opportunities in solar energy projects / products Train Branch Managers on solar lending Measurably reduce the constraints on, and increase the capacity for financing of solar energy markets in India Help local entrepreneurs build sound portfolios of solar energy projects

10. Solar Finance Capacity Building Alliance (SFCBA) Core implementation team Winrock International India – overall implementation, coordination and monitoring Bharathiya Vikas Trust – organizing training programs Centre for Technology and Development – monitoring and evaluation Syndicate Bank – lead bank

11. SFCBA – Training Programs Training the Trainers Technology familiarization Disseminate financing models Skills for appraisal of solar projects / products Branch Manager Trainings Familiarization module to introduce bankers to technical and economic aspects of SHS Finance module to instruct bankers in procedures for lending for SHS Case studies illustrating actual financing examples Guest lecturers (financiers and/or Solar Energy Entrepreneurs) to speak on their experiences in the industry

12. SFCBA – Entrepreneur Development Program Identify and assist entrepreneurs to set-up businesses Provide installation and after sales services Achievement SFCBA Promotional Approach Individuals approaching banks Banks adopting villages and promoting solar products Promotion by service providers

13. SFCBA – Lending for SHS Up to INR 25,000, no guarantee or collateral taken Only hypothecation Repayment tenure up to 5 years (in special cases up to 7 years) Beneficiary had the option of choosing the repayment period

14. SFCBA – Impact… 4 Apex conferences 22 TTT programs Over 550 Master Trainers 201 BMT programs More than 5,200 Bank Managers trained 30 EDP programs More than 900 small-scale entrepreneurs Lending Over 10,400 systems financed Worth INR 300 million

15. Accelerated Renewable Energy Commercialization (ARECOMM) Investment window for low-cost, long-term credit to rural entrepreneurs Strengthening entrepreneurial ability sustainable capacity building strategic and other need based inputs Linking entrepreneurs with stakeholders and other RE programs Technical assistance services

16. Commercialization of Renewable Energy in India (CREI) Identification of RE enterprise opportunities Develop a replicable approach for assisting local entrepreneurs to promote RE services for productive applications Augment rural incomes through value added production and generate local employment Facilitating access to resources, stakeholders Communications and outreach

17. SPV Applications Program in Uttar Pradesh To provide access to clean and reliable energy to the target group, largely women, through focused capacity building initiative Popularize and disseminate solar lanterns Link up the provision of energy with meeting of social needs and augmenting income Facilitate financing and establish a local delivery system for sustenance of the initiative

18. SHGs have a central role There are opportunities for SHGs to generate income through management of lending facility, O&M and marketing of lanterns Gradually a lot of capacity gets transferred to community Establishing the supply chain components Banks Dealers Technicians / electricians Motivators

19. SPV Applications Program in Uttar Pradesh

20. The Way Ahead… Understand the beneficiaries needs Not all rural / remote families can afford SHS Link up with livelihood options to make it more affordable Need more public private partnerships Special lending mechanisms to attract beneficiaries Ensure all supply chain components are in place Capacity building of local NGO’s and providing technical backstopping for their programs

21. Thank you Arvind Reddy Manager, Program Management Unit, and Outreach Winrock International India Gurgaon – 122 001 Tel: 91-124-4303868 Email: arvind@winrockindia.org