New Energy Nexus invests in the cKers Finance Sustainable Energy Bond (SEB) to foster its financial innovation program of setting-up new distributed solar segments in India.

India targets 100 GW of solar power generation by 2022, of which 31 GW is already installed, while 17 GW is under construction and tenders for 35 GW have already been floated. India’s booming solar power sector has witnessed a slowdown of late, as distribution companies delay payments to the power plants. However, the expansion of investment partnership between New Energy Nexus and cKers Finance to set-up new distributed solar segments in India is set to accelerate the sector.

Danny Kennedy, Chief Energy Officer at New Energy Nexus states, “The falling cost of solar technology is democratizing availability of energy through distributed solutions. We are very excited to grow our partnership with cKers Finance, which has developed innovative financing products suited to the needs of these segments. Overall, they have helped deploy over $30 million in the last 24 months. Our fund has invested a total of $5 million into cKers Finance, which we think is excellent leverage to accelerate the development of new distributed solar segments.”

Pawan Mehra, Director & CIO of cKers Finance, poises, “We have helped catalyze the creation of over 45 megawatts of distributed solar energy assets across

100+ locations across India. We have developed a range of financing products for emerging developers, renewable energy service companies- RESCOs, and clean-technology companies to enable them to grow. Our specialty is in being able to do smaller ticket-sizes, which most traditional financiers shy away from. And this year we are piloting even smaller ticket-sizes, for Small and Medium Enterprises- SMEs.”

“Our fund has invested a total of $5 million into cKers Finance, which we think is excellent leverage to accelerate the development of new distributed solar segments”

Shilpa Patel, Director of Mission Investing at the ClimateWorks Foundation, an advisor to New Energy Nexus, comments, “SEBs are specialized instruments that allow investors to have exposure exclusively to sustainable energy assets. Unlike traditional green bond issuances, SEBs are viable at smaller scales, which helps catalyze collaborative action and investments that are imperative to raising capital for distributed clean energy around the world.”

The impact reporting measures of the partnership bond have been designed under the aegis of the Climate Policy Initiative and its Climate Finance Innovation Lab. The process for measurement of impact and its attribution has been developed by the sustainability advisory firm, cKinetics.

This procured fund will actuate the development of distributed segments including residential and commercial solar systems, solar pumps, floating solar, solar cold chains and the like. Part of this fund will also be invested in emerging energy service company models (ESCO) that promotes energy efficiency.