German Technology to boost India’s RE Sector

India and Germany are strengthening their ties by increasing their cooperation to address the issue of energy security and energy efficiency.Dr Nikolaus Supersberger, Deputy Director Indo-German Energy Programme (IGEN), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH speaks to Richa Kapoor about Germany providing technical and financial support to India to make grid management more efficient and to help build a ‘green energy corridor’

Q: What kind of organisational, technical and financial support would Germany extend to India with regards to increasing the use of renewables in India to stabilise the flow of energy and frequency to the grid?

A: The contribution of Germany has to be seen in different contexts. There is financial cooperation, which is done by “Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau” (KfW), and there is technical assistance, which is provided by the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH”. It was last year that the German government decided to provide India with concessional loans worth up to Euro 1 billion and it will be channelled through KfW.

Apart from the financial cooperation, technical cooperation will be provided by GIZ and this will be financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and by German Federal Ministry for Environment (BMUB). These projects, on which GIZ is currently working, are – among other issues – aimed towards the “Green Energy Corridors” approach of the Indian Government.