Germany to provide additional funding for India's green energy corridors

Germany said Saturday it has committed an additional 500 million euros (Rs.3,900 crore) to support India in developing its green energy corridors.

According to German embassy here, the funding will be released under the Indo-German bilateral development cooperation.

The additional funding was approved after German Ambassador Michael Steiner and Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi sealed the new outlay agreement on Wednesday.

The additional funding will help finance measures to facilitate the transmission of renewable energy into the national grid.

"This is one of the flagship project of Indo-German cooperation - in terms of volume, but also in terms of the enthusiasm of everyone involved, the speed of implementation and its sustainability," said Ambassador Steiner.

"It matches well with next year's bilateral schedule, as India will be the official partner country of the biggest international trade fair in Hannover with its focus on 'future-proof' technologies."

Till now, the German government's development bank (KfW) has signed three loan agreements initiating the implementation of this ambitious program. In 2013, Germany had already committed 250 million euros to India under this project.

The green energy corridors project aims to create transmission infrastructure in states with a high potential in renewable energy and facilitate evacuation of renewable energy into the national grid.

Under the Indo-German bilateral development cooperation, the Germany government, in 2012 offered to support the GEC project with funds amounting to 1 billion euros or Rs.7,800 crore over a period of five years.