Yes Bank Limited (YBL) is in process of establishing its first ever private equityEquity is the concept or idea of fairness in economics, particularly as to taxation or welfare economics. fund for clean energy. The South Asia Clean Energy Fund (SACEF) is hoping to raise $200 million by this summer. According to YBL they have already raised $125 million, even with the constraints of a global recession.

The fund is targeting renewable energyRenewable energy is power generated from infinite sources, such as wind or solar power. Conventional energy is generated from finite sources, such as natural gas or fossil oil., energy efficiencyUsing less energy/electricity to perform the same function. Programs designed to use electricity more efficiently - doing the same with less. and sanitation companies that are seeking between $7-10 million. Thus over the life of the fund it is expected that more than 20 companies would be recipients of equity funding.

Environment EnergyThe ability to perform work, mainly kinetic, potential, thermal energy, but also in forms of gravitational, sound, elastic and electromagnetic energy. and Enterprise Ventures Private Limited, e3V, is working with Yes Bank Limited to develop a practice within the bank to assist in the financing of ventures that directly or indirectly service the market for small-scale RE and/or EE ventures in rural and peri-urban parts of India. Their work is being funded by REEEPThe Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) is a non-profit, specialist change agent aiming to catalyse the market for renewable energy and energy efficiency, with a primary focus on emerging markets and developing countries. and YBL.

Investments in renewable energy are accelerating in several Indian states, in part due to recent announcements regarding renewable energy targets. The targets take the form of either megawatts installed or a fixed percentage of renewablesRenewable energy is power generated from infinite sources, such as wind or solar power. Conventional energy is generated from finite sources, such as natural gas or fossil oil. in the energy mix.

For example, Gujarat announced a target of 500MW for the state and they’ve established a feed-in-tariff of US$ 0.27/kWh for a period of 12 years. This has attracted solar developers Astonfield and Refex energy, with 200MW and 50MW in solar projects respectively.

Rajasthan has announced $1.6 billion in renewable energy projects, most notably 1,600MW of wind farmsA group of wind turbines interconnected to a common power provider system through a system of transformers, distribution lines, and (usually) one substation. Operation, control, and maintenance functions are often centralized through a network of computerized monitoring systems, supplemented by ... awarded to Indian developer Suzlon. Hyrana is yet another state to come forward with a target, announcing a 10% renewables target and attracting $777 million in projects (250MW biomassEnergy resources derived from organic matter. These include wood, agricultural waste and other living-cell material that can be burned to produce heat energy. They also include algae, sewage and other organic substances that may be used to make energy through chemical processes.
Biomass, a ..., 440MW windWind occurs due to different temperature levels in the atmosphere (troposphere) which are heated up by the sun. A typical example are the trade winds at the equator where the sun is most powerful.. and 5MW small hydroHydros generating a capacity of up to 10MW are classified as small hydro.
Small hydro is the development of hydroelectric power on a scale serving a small community or industrial plant. The definition of a small hydro project varies but a generating capacity of up to 10 megawatts (MW) is ...).

India is well on its way to bringing online more than 3,000MW of renewables and hopefully Yes Bank’s new equity fund will allow even more projects to obtain the equity and debt required to finance clean energy.