UNIDO-GEF-MoMSME
A Capacity Building Programme (Awareness Workshops) under the Project:
“Promoting Business Models for Increasing Penetration and Scaling up of Solar Energy”
Background
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), in partnership with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME), Government of India, and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is implementing the project “Promoting Business Models for Increasing Penetration and Scaling Up of Solar Energy” in industry. The project aims to promote the adoption of Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) technologies in Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), particularly for industrial process heat applications.
A large share of industrial energy demand is thermal in nature, and most of the MSME units continue to depend on conventional fuels such as coal, furnace oil, diesel, LPG, biomass and other fossil fuel-based heating systems. Commercially proven Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) systems are available. However, awareness about their application, economic benefits and integration to existing industrial processes remains limited in many MSME clusters. This lack of awareness is one of the key barriers to wider adoption of solar thermal solutions for industrial heating.
To address this gap, UNIDO is undertaking a capacity building and awareness programme through 20 Cluster Awareness Workshops across different MSME clusters in India. The workshops are intended to build first-level awareness among MSME entrepreneurs, plant managers, cluster associations, industry bodies and government agencies on the relevance and potential of CST for industrial process heat applications.
As part of the preparatory phase, stakeholder consultations are being conducted to validate cluster priorities, understand sector-specific process heat requirements, identify awareness gaps, and design practical workshop content suited to MSME audiences. These consultations will help ensure that the workshops are aligned with the realities of MSME clusters, sectoral process heat requirements, local communication preferences and stakeholder expectations.
UNIDO has officially appointed IT Power Private Limited , in consortium with Global Sustainable Energy Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. (GSES India) , to implement the Awareness Workshops under this project.
The official Letter of Support issued by UNIDO is available below.