India’s Ultra-Mega Solar Project was endorsed by the World Bank ahead of the One Planet Summit in Paris, France on December 12, 2017
India’s Ultra-Mega Solar Project was endorsed by the World Bank ahead of the One Planet Summit in Paris, France on December 12, 2017.
Also known as Ultra-Mega Solar Parks, the project is a series of solar power initiatives that the government is planning in order to enhance the country’s energy capacity from 20,000MW to 40,000MW.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the project would be discussed at the summit when reviewing the bank’s ongoing work regarding climate change mitigation and its efforts in supporting developing countries to implement the Paris Agreement.
Kim commended India’s stance in the areas of solar and hydro, in particular the progress of the International Solar Alliance, which was jointly launched by India and France alongside the Paris Climate Conference in December, 2015.
It aims to facilitate the large-scale deployment of solar energy in 121 countries between the tropics by amassing the demand for innovation, technology and funding.
The World Bank President said that the rapidly changing cost and size of battery storage were encouraging signs for the Alliance and for renewable energy in India.
One example from Mexico showed the lowest price for solar energy at 1.7 cents per kilowatt hour, making it less than half the cost of coal.
Furthermore, previous predictions for the limit of the size of battery storage technology have been broken by substantial margins.
Kim acknowledged that India had set a very ambitious target to reduce its carbon intensity, but that the World Bank would continue to work closely with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to guide the country towards a lower carbon, renewable energy future.
He hosted the One Planet Summit alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Secretary General António Guterres, marking the second anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agreement.
Kim told reporters: “I am very optimistic about what could happen with renewable energy [in India].
“There is still a lot of work to do [but] I think the Indian government is very much aware of that.”
“We are coming together not only to reaffirm our commitment to the agreement and to showcase some of the work taking place, but more importantly to look at ways to mobilize the scale of financing needed to create a low carbon climate resilient future for the economies of the world.”
