The Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment says conditions placed by the US as part of its climate fast-start finance initiative is killing the Indian solar panel industry. According to the CSE, the US Exim Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation are offering low-interest loans to solar project developers in India only if they buy the equipment, the solar panels and cells from US companies. As a result most orders are being bagged by US companies rather than local manufacturers, putting the domestic solar photo-voltaic industry at risk, says CSE deputy director Chandra Bhushan. Fast start finance is a $30 billion fund set up under the aegis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). The fund, adopted at the Copenhagen climate meet in 2009, is meant to help developing nations deal with the impact of climate change and limit greenhouse gas emissions, says Bhushan. --Labonita Ghosh, Economic Times of India, 17 August 2012
