Softbank to invest $20 billion to further India’s solar ambitions

• 9 years ago (2015-06-23)
• Junior Isles

Asia 898 North America 1026 Renewables 780

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Softbank, the Japanese telecoms giant, has announced plans - alongside India's Bharti Enterprises and Taiwan's Foxconn - to invest $20 billion in Indian solar energy projects to meet massive increases demanded by new government targets.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently outlined plans to raise installed solar capacity from some 3 GW today to 100 GW by 2022.

Softbank's chief executive, Masayoshi Son, said: "India can become probably the largest country for solar energy... [as it] has two times the sunshine of Japan. The cost of the solar park is half [of what it is in] Japan. Twice the sunshine, half the costs, that means four times the efficiency."

Softbank aims to generate at least 20 GW of energy, which would provide a significant boost to Modi's plans. India is one of the world's active users of fossil energy, but since coming to power last year Modi has pushed renewable energy up the agenda.

India's push towards renewable energy comes before this year's Paris Climate Summit, where world leaders will look to develop a successor to the Kyoto protocol to keep global temperatures in check.