ADB to Support Expansion of Off-Grid Solar Systems in India

(Bloomberg) — The Asian Development Bank is administering
a $6 million loan from the Clean Technology Fund to help install
more off-grid solar home systems in rural India.

The loan will help Simpa Energy India Private Ltd. finance
75,000 additional solar systems for both homes and small
businesses next year, the ADB said in a statement Friday. Simpa
Energy has installed almost 15,000 solar home systems in India,
mainly in Uttar Pradesh state where the electrification rate is
low, according to the statement.

The company installs solar systems in customers’ homes for
a small initial down payment. Customers prepay for power using
their mobile phones daily, according to the statement.

Part of each mobile payment is also used to pay off the
cost of the system, allowing the customer to acquire it over a
few years. Simpa’s aim is to roll out 225,000 systems by the end
of 2018, according to the statement.

The Clean Technology Fund is a financing window of the
Climate Investment Funds set up to provide resources to scale up
the demonstration, deployment and transfer of low-carbon
technologies.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo at cwatanabe5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net
Iain Wilson, Indranil Ghosh

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