Orb Energy has announced its partnership with the State Bank of India (SBI). This agreement designates Orb Energy as an approved vendor under SBI’s Surya Shakti Solar Finance Scheme. Launched by SBI, the country’s largest lender, the Surya Shakti scheme aims to enhance the financing options available for solar power projects. Through this collaboration, SBI will offer solar loans to Orb Energy’s residential, commercial, and industrial customers, facilitating the installation of rooftop solar systems.
Under this agreement, SBI will offer solar loans to Orb Energy’s residential, commercial, and industrial customers for the installation of rooftop solar systems. For commercial and industrial customers, SBI will provide loans of up to Rs. 10 crores, with a minimum down payment of 20% and extended tenures. For residential customers, SBI offers loans of up to Rs. 10 lakhs for the installation of solar systems.
Finance is critical to the rapid uptake of rooftop solar systems, and to achieving the government’s goal of 100 GW of rooftop solar by 2030. Rooftop solar typically has a 3-4 year payback for commercial and industrial customers, and a 4-5 year payback for residential customers. Solar panels are warrantied for 25 years or more, so after payback customers basically benefit from free electricity. But longer-term, low-cost finance is the key to helping customers manage the up-front costs, so that they can move more quickly to capture these life-time savings from solar.
Damian Miller, Co-Founder and CEO of Orb Energy said, “Signing with the State Bank of India is a tremendous milestone for Orb Energy and its customers. We look forward to enabling more of our customers to benefit from SBI’s low-cost, innovative financing for rooftop, to supporting SBI’s hugely beneficial ‘Surya Shakti Solar Finance Scheme.”
Orb Energy has been a pioneer in India’s rooftop solar industry, regularly ranked in the top 5 rooftop providers by CRISIL (Bridge to India), with more than 300MW now installed, and growing very fast. The SBI partnership now promises to further fuel Orb Energy’s growth, as well as provide Orb’s customers with a bigger range of options in financing their rooftop solar acquisitions.
