EBRD to finance new solar power plant construction in Kazakhstan

ASTANA (TCA) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting a new solar plant with up to 28 MW capacity in southern Kazakhstan, a country which leads in the field of solar power generation in Central Asia. The respective loan and project support agreements were signed on October 18, the Bank said.

The financing will be provided in local currency, Kazakh tenge, for up to an equivalent of US$ 35 million on a project finance basis. The project will help to develop the country’s potential in renewables and strengthen the private sector’s involvement in the power and energy sector which has historically been dominated by state entities.

The solar park project will be implemented by Nomad Solar LLP, a special purpose company incorporated in Kazakhstan and owned by the French company Total Eren SA and the United Arab Emirates company Access Infra Central Asia Ltd.

Nomad Solar will construct and operate the solar plant in the Kyzylorda region in southern central Kazakhstan. The plant’s operation will lead to a reduction of annual CO2 emissions by 47,800 tonnes.

This investment is the sixth project under the EBRD Kazakhstan Renewables Framework which focuses on clean technology projects.

The EBRD has committed €26 billion to Green Economy Transition projects since 2006, with €6.3 billion invested in renewable energy, both directly and through credit lines, and over 10,000 MW of total renewable capacity installed.

To date, the EBRD has invested over US$ 8.7 billion in the economy of Kazakhstan and has been the sole project finance provider for renewable projects in the country.

Sergey Kwan

TCA

Sergey Kwan has worked for The Times of Central Asia as a journalist, translator and editor since its foundation in March 1999. Prior to this, from 1996-1997, he worked as a translator at The Kyrgyzstan Chronicle, and from 1997-1999, as a translator at The Central Asian Post.
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Kwan studied at the Bishkek Polytechnic Institute from 1990-1994, before completing his training in print journalism in Denmark.

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