International Finance Corporation (IFC) has intended a $50 million loan facility to Italy-based Enel Green Power to fund its solar project in Rajasthan’s Bikaner.

Enel Green Power India, one of the step-down subsidiaries of Enel Green Power, an existing global client of IFC, is developing the 300 MW Thar Surya solar photovoltaic (PV) project.

IFC is the escort arranger for the entire debt portion for the current venture and will mobilize $100 million debt through parallel lenders. As per IFC, the total expense of the project is estimated at $200 million.

This project was awarded to Enel Green Power in July 2020 by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).
Enel will sell the generated electricity to SECI under a 25-year power purchase agreement. IFC is the mandated lead arranger for the entire debt portion.

The award was part of SECI’s auction for 2 GW of the interstate transmission system (ISTS) connected solar projects (Tranche IX) conducted in June 2020. Enel had quoted the second-lowest tariff of ₹2.37 (~$0.0314)/kWh for the 300 MW it had offer for.

Operating in 28 countries, Enel Green Power is one of the largest renewable energy developers globally, with 49 GW installed capacity across the wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower projects.

In July of previous year, the Italian renewable energy firm had declared that it had entered into a long-term joint investment (JV) partnership with Norwegian private equity company Norfund to set up renewable energy projects in India.

Enel Green Power stated it would together finance, build, and operate novel renewable projects in India with Norfund through its Indian subsidiary, Enel Green Power India.

In a proposal to push green financing, IFC had asked its clients in the fiscal segment to boost their climate-related lending, reducing their exposure to coal to zero or close to zero by 2030. IFC has excluded coal-related investments from its loans.

According to a former report, a growing number of lending institutions are diverging from coal-based projects.