US agency to give USD 150 mn for solar powered towers to India

Lalit K Jha
Washington (PTI) - A US agency has announced to
provide a financial assistance of USD 150 million to India to
expand use of solar powered telecommunication towers.
The decision by the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC) is expected to reduce CO2 emissions and
create jobs in both the US and India.
"This project brings OPIC's financing for renewable
energy in India to more than USD 400 million approved in just
the past year," said OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth
Littlefield.
"OPIC is proud to be supporting India's impressive
ambitions to shift to a less carbon-intensive economy,"
Littlefield added.
Together with project sponsor Applied Solar Technologies
(AST), tower companies in India are working to reduce their
dependence on site-situated diesel powered generator sets, in
part because tower operators in remote areas lack access to
the electrical grid, OPIC said in a statement.
The potential for higher fuel prices and mounting
pressure to reduce CO2 emissions make the shift to renewable
energy an important priority for the tower companies and cell
operators generally.
In recognition of their efforts to reduce their carbon
footprint, AST's two largest customers won prestigious awards
for their focus on more sustainable operations.
AST will use the OPIC loan to supplement cellular
towers' diesel-powered generators with solar hybrid energy
systems that use proprietary controllers to integrate and
optimise usage through photovoltaic technology, electricity
from the electric grid, a battery bank charged by solar
panels, and existing generators, the statement said.
The US sponsors of the project are Vinod Agarwal;
Bessemer Venture Partners Trust, a subsidiary of
California-based Bessemer Venture Partners, which manages more
than USD 2 billion of venture capital invested in more than
130 companies worldwide; and Capricorn Libra Investment Group,
a subsidiary of Capricorn Investment Group, LLC, also a
California-based company that invests in companies
manufacturing environmentally-friendly products.