Early Warning System

Regions

South Asia

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Countries

India

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Financial Institutions

US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Proposed

Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.

Bank Risk Rating

Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."

Borrower

FS India Solar Ventures Private Limited

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Energy

The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.

Investment Type(s)

Loan

The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.

Investment Amount (USD)

$ 500.00 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Loan Amount (USD)

$ 500.00 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Project Cost (USD)

$ 720.00 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Bank Documents

Project Disclosure

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ DFC website

Updated in EWS Aug 4, 2022

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Project Description

If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to DFC documents, the proposed investment seeks to establish a vertically integrated manufacturing facility of solar photovoltaic (“PV”) modules. The principal aim of the planned facilities is to support India’s robust solar power generation targets for 2030, which require over 200 gigawatts of additional solar PV capacity installed. Significant local employment will result from project operations, which will additionally diversify India’s PV product market by adding local CdTe products. As of 2020, India imported $1.5 billion of PV products, with imports accounting for the majority of the new capacity installed throughout the country.

ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL INFORMATION

The environmental risks associated with operations primarily involve worker health and safety, chemical safety, and hazardous waste management. Priortotheoperationsphase,the Borrower will be required to provide an IFC-compliant environmental and social management system and health and safety management system for DFC review and approval. The Borrower has a corporate-level EHS Policy and Sustainability Policy representing its commitment to provide a safe work environment for all associates, contractors, and site visitors and to reduce the environmental impact of its activities through a commitment to continuous improvement. The Borrower is committed to complying with all applicable industry codes and standards and endeavors to conserve natural resources, minimize waste, and prevent pollution from the manufacturing, construction, operation, and end-of-life management. The Borrower has a corporate-level quality management system for its raw material suppliers and establishes recycling units within its facilities to treat PV manufacturing scrap and offer its customers an end-of-life disposal option.

The social risks associated with operations include labor management and supply chain management. The Borrower will implement a human resource management system that is equivalent to the risks, size, and composition of its workforce. Additionally, the Borrower will maintain a supply chain management system in alignment with IFC Performance Standard2toaddresslaborrisks, particularly forced labor and child labor.

Investment Description

Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)

Private Actors Description

A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

First Solar India Solar Ventures Private Limited, which is a subsidiary of First Solar which is known to be as one of the largest solar manufacturing companies in America.

Contact Information

This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No contact information was provided at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Unlike many other development finance institutions, DFC does not currently have an access to information policy.

Under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), DFC is obliged to respond to reasonably formulated requests for Agency records. However, DFC may apply exemptions from release to certain types of information and may charge fees in responding to requests. DFC has a designated FOIA officer who is trained in how to respond to requests and implement the law. You can learn more about filing a FOIA request at: https://www.dfc.gov/foia

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION (DFC)

The Office of Accountability is an independent office that addresses complaints about environmental or social issues related to DFC-supported projects. The office provides communities an opportunity to have concerns independently reviewed and addressed. If you submit a complaint to the Office of Accountability, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a problem solving dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the DFC complied with its policies to prevent environmental, social, human rights, and labor harms.

You can find more information about the Office of Accountability at: https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/office-accountability