ADB backs first CSP project with $103m loan to India's Reliance

Reliance will use the ADB funds to help build the facility in the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, 180km west of the city of Jodhpur.

The CSP plant is due for completion in May 2013 at a total project cost of $415m. The ADB says other multilateral agencies and local commercial lenders are also providing funding.

Michael Barrow, director in ADB's private sector operations department, says: "We hope that the success of this project will spur others to invest in the solar energy sector, which has massive potential in India."

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