13 September 2011: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $100 million loan to finance a roll-out of new large-scale solar power facilities in Gujarat, India.

The loan will be used to build a substation, transmission lines and other equipment to collect and distribute solar power generated by plants in the Charanka Solar Park in Gujarat’s Patan district. The new facilities will make it cost-effective for private companies to set up sizeable solar energy generating plants. The project will also provide vocational skills training for up to 300 people in target areas, of which 30% will be women, as well as energy-based livelihood programmes for up to 100 poor women.

The project in Charanka will help meet rising energy demand and help the region reduce its use of fossil fuels. It will also help India move towards the goal of building solar facilities with total generating capacity of 20,000 MW by 2022. [ADB Press Release]