The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved the constitution of a 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.
An official press release said the Fund would 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, it said.
Such projects may be sponsored by a Ministry/Department of the Government; and 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 ofclean energy to review, evaluate and recommend projects. There will be a time frame specified under thescheme for processing of applications at each stage. The IMG will identify/appoint appropriate professional agencies to monitor progress of NCEF funded projects, the release added.
Courtesy:NNN
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