Union Government to set up $2 bn clean energy equity fund for additional renewable energy

Union Government in November 2016 decided to launch a 2 billion US dollar clean energy equity fund. The fund is being created to support government's ambitious target of adding 175 GW renewable energy generation capacity by 2022.

The government will launch the fund jointly with state-run power entities namely, National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFC).

As per reports, the New and Renewable Energy Ministry has already processed the proposal and sent it to the Finance Ministry to initiate a 2 billion dollar clean energy equity fund to push renewable energy capacity addition as envisaged by the union government. The report also says that the initial seed funding will be done by the union government to set up this fund from the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund.

In addition, the government is also seeking to collect 4 billion dollar per year in the next 3-4 years for a clean energy fund.

Ahead of the Paris climate talks in November 2015, Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal had said that the government is planning a 1 billion dollar private equity fund for the renewable energy sector.