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US India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF)

Climate Policy Initiative
https://www.usicef.org/

About

A consortium of US foundations in conjunction with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Government of India (GOI) launched the US-India Clean Energy Finance Initiative (USICEF) to increase clean energy access in India by catalysing investment in distributed renewable energy projects.
USICEF focuses on the decentralized renewable energy (DRE) space, particularly the mini-grid, distributed rooftop and off-grid solar projects, as well as smaller-scale grid connected solar projects. The facility supports technical, financial, legal and other advisory services, by means of grants, required by the DRE companies to become attractive for debt investment.
USICEF has created a pool of ready-to-scale companies to catalyze long-term debt financing from financial institutions in distributed renewable energy projects.

Assistance Criteria

The evaluation criteria is a combination of various parameters viz. Experience of the project team, company’s financial performance, implementation strategy and project bankability as well as development impact.

 

Support

The typical support ranges between USD 50,000 – USD 300,000, with maximum support capped at 2% of the overall project cost.

Support Type

  • Grants
  • Technical Assistance

Focus

Project Stage

  • Concept/design/scoping
  • Feasibility

Sector

  • Renewable Energy
Photo Credit: Lize Festers-