Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

Japan's Cabinet approved the FY2026 (Reiwa 8) national budget on 26 December 2025, funding METI/ANRE's "Hydropower Energy Introduction Promotion Project" (水力発電導入促進支援事業費補助金) -- one of the programmes Global Trade Alert logs under the FY2026 METI budget cycle, which it puts at a JPY 2.8 billion allocation. ANRE opened a public offer on 26 January 2026 (closed 16 February 2026) for the executing body that would administer indirect subsidies to private-sector and municipal operators for FY2026-27; the New Energy Foundation (一般財団 法人新エネルギー財団) was selected on 20 February 2026. The programme supports two tracks: subsidised replacement/upgrade of ageing existing hydropower facilities to raise output and efficiency, and feasibility studies to expand new entrants into small and mid-scale hydropower.

NIB, the multilateral development bank owned by the eight Nordic and Baltic member states, signed a NOK 1 billion (EUR 86 million / USD 100 million) loan with Hafslund AS, Norway's second-largest renewable energy group and largest district-heating supplier. The loan is split into two NOK 500 million tranches with eight- and eleven-year tenors and finances three projects: reconstruction of the Braskereidfoss hydropower dam and plants on the Glomma River (destroyed by Storm Hans in 2023), construction of the 20 MW Skygard data centre at Økern, Oslo, and an upgrade of Aker Hospital's district-heating connection. NIB financing is provided at preferential development-bank rates relative to commercial project finance, functioning as a below-market state-backed subsidy to strategic domestic energy and digital infrastructure.

India's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved an INR 8,146.21 crore (~USD 980 million) investment proposal for the 700 MW (4x175 MW) Tato-II Hydro Electric Project in Shi Yomi district, Arunachal Pradesh, to be built over 72 months by a joint venture between North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd (NEEPCO) and the Government of Arunachal Pradesh. The Government of India component consists of INR 436.13 crore in central financial assistance toward the state's equity share plus INR 458.79 crore in budgetary support for enabling infrastructure (roads, bridges, transmission lines) — together INR 894.92 crore (~USD 108 million) of direct central subsidy. Arunachal Pradesh receives 12% free power and a 1% local-area-development-fund allocation from project output.

NIB, the multilateral development bank owned by the eight Nordic and Baltic member states, signed a EUR 30 million, 15-year loan with Norwegian utility Sogn og Fjordane Energi AS (SFE) to finance the rebuild of the Øksenelvane hydropower plant in Western Norway. The new station, built alongside the existing 70-year-old facility to keep generation running through construction, will add roughly 21 GWh/y of output and nearly quadruple capacity, with completion expected in 2028. NIB's below-market development-bank funding cost functions as a state-adjacent subsidy for Norwegian renewable-energy infrastructure.