Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

06-April-2011 19:38 IST

Creation of National Clean Energy Fund

The CCEA has approved constitution of an 'National Clean Energy Fund' (NCEF) in the public account of India along with the guidelines as well as modalities for approval of projects to be funded from the Fund.

The Finance Bill 2010-11 provided for creation of a corpus called National Clean Energy Fund to invest in entrepreneurial ventures and research in the field of clean energy technologies. Subsequent to the budget announcement, the Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) issued a notification dated June 22, 2010 to notify the Clean Energy Cess Rules, 2010.

An Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) has been constituted to approve the projects/schemes eligible for financing under the National Clean Energy Fund, consisting of following members:

(i) Finance Secretary-Chairperson

(ii) Secretary (Expenditure)-Member

(iii) Secretary (Revenue)-Member

(iv) Representatives from Ministries of Power, Coal, Chemicals & Fertilizers, Petroleum & Natural Gas, New & Renewable Energy and Environment & Forests.

The National Clean Energy Fund will be used for funding research and innovative projects in clean energy technologies. Any project/scheme for innovative methods to adopt to clean energy technology and research & development shall be eligible for funding under the NCEF. Such projects may be:

(a) Sponsored by a Ministry/Department of the Government; and

(b) Submitted by individual/ consortium of organizations in the government/public sector/private sector in the form of loan or viability gap funding, as the IMG deems fit on case to case basis. Government assistance under the NCEF shall in no case exceed 40% of the total project cost.

A standard format for submission and evaluation of projects shall be designed by the IMG to receive proposals from various ministries of Government of India.

Proposals for loan or viability gap funding by Individuals/ consortiums are to be submitted to the concerned Ministry first, which, after due consideration, shall place them before the IMG. The IMG may seek the views of technical experts from related organizations and individuals of repute in the area of clean energy to review, evaluate and recommend projects. There will be a time frame specified under the scheme for processing of applications at each stage. The IMG will identify/appoint appropriate professional agencies to monitor progress of NCEF funded projects.

 

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AD/SB/SKS

National Clean Energy Fund establishes project financing framework with capped government assistance and interministerial approval process. Creation of a National Clean Energy Fund establishes a dedicated public corpus to finance research, innovation and entrepreneurial ventures in clean energy technologies through loans or viability gap funding, with government assistance capped at a specified proportion of total project cost. An Inter Ministerial Group chaired by the Finance Secretary and including representatives of key ministries will approve eligible projects, design submission and evaluation formats, prescribe processing time frames, consult technical experts, and appoint agencies to monitor progress. Proposals from non-government applicants must be submitted via the concerned Ministry for IMG consideration.