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U.S.-India Clean Energy Finance (US-ICEF)

The US-India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) initiative is India’s first facility to help promising distributed solar projects develop into viable investment opportunities, via essential early-stage project preparation support. USICEF is a keystone of the commitment made between the Indian and US governments to mobilize finance for Indian distributed clean energy projects.

USICEF will deploy millions of dollars in project preparation support, sourced from leading foundations and the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), to distributed solar power projects under consideration for long-term financing from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Good Energies Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation have committed funding to USICEF. Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) serves as the Program Manager.

USICEF’s support will lay the foundation for project developers in distributed solar power to access much-needed capital to scale up their businesses. By developing a framework to make projects investment-ready for OPIC and other development finance institutions, USICEF will also in turn help catalyze needed additional investment from private sources.

Purpose of support

Scoping and project preparation

Eligibility criteria

Support is provided for Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), and other financial institutions.

Applications will be evaluated on the basis of:Experience of the Project Developer firm and team members/management

The project model and its potential for investment
The operational and financial performance of the Project Developer firm
Development impact

Financial instruments

Grants

Co-financing requirements (if applicable)

Funding will help leverage private financing.

Decision-making information

The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), as the Program Manager, will conduct a preliminary screening of submitted proposals and will share applications that have passed the preliminary screen with OPIC and IREDA for additional feedback.
CPI will then prepare a deeper evaluation to assess the funding potential of the project and the project’s bankability, and will make necessary recommendations to the Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee is comprised of government representatives from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and IREDA, as well as independent subject matter experts.
Grants will be awarded to the recommended projects approved by the Advisory Committee.
Applicants (grant awardees) can select service providers and avail grants for the required services. CPI will directly pay the grant to service providers.

Information on how to...

Follow the steps to access, as described on the USICEF website. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, but will be reviewed once quarterly. Typically it may take between 9 to 15 weeks from the date of application submission for the application review process to be concluded.

Applications are submitted through the following process:

The Project Developer applies for a USICEF grant for project preparation support. Access the project developer's application by filling out a contact form.
The application is evaluated by CPI, as the Program Manager, and the Advisory Committee.
Upon application approval, the Program Manager engages USICEF’s network of impaneled Service Providers to provide the relevant project support.
Grant money is transferred to the Service Providers and/or Project Developer upon successful delivery of services.
Project Developers receive project development support and become eligible for long-term financing from OPIC and other institutions.

Climate objective

Mitigation

Sectors and themes

Energy efficiency, Renewable Energy

Type of recipient

Private sector

Co-financing required

Yes

Application timeframe

Typically it may take between 3-4 months from the date of application submission for the application review process to be concluded.

Trustee or administrator

Climate Policy Initiative

Contact information

https://www.usicef.org/

Mr. Vijay Nirmal Gavarraju, Vijay.Nirmal@cpiglobal.org

Mr. Kushagra Gautam, Kushagra.Gautam@cpiglobal.org

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U.S.-India Clean Energy Finance (US-ICEF)

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