ASTANA (TCA) — The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and Hevel Kazakhstan on February 14 said they have signed a EUR 56.2 million long-term multi-currency loan facility agreement to finance the construction of solar power plants with an installed capacity of up to 90 MW in Kazakhstan.
The plants are expected to generate over 160 million kWh per year and are expected to help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 85,000 tonnes a year. The generated electricity will be supplied to Kazakhstan’s power system. The plants are scheduled to be commissioned in 2020.
In addition to other equipment, the project expects to use heterojunction solar modules made by Hevel. This will foster high-tech production for the renewable energy sector in both Russia and other member states of the Bank. The project is also supposed to deepen economic ties between Russia and Kazakhstan.
“Financing green energy projects is one of the Bank’s priorities. The EDB is happy to support the Hevel Group in such an important solar power project and help it enter Kazakhstan’s market,” Vsevolod Smakov, Head of Projects at the EDB, commented.
Hevel Kazakhstan is part of the Hevel Group. Hevel Kazakhstan will sell electricity under respective agreements with the Financial Settlement Centre of RE.
The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth, and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. The EDB’s charter capital totals US $7 billion. The member states of the Bank are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and Tajikistan.
The Hevel Group of Companies was founded in 2009 and is Russia’s largest integrated company in the solar power sector. The company comprises three divisions: a solar module plant in Novocheboksarsk (Chuvash Republic), a development division that designs, builds and operates solar power plants, and the Research and Development Centre for Thin-Film Technologies in Energetics (St. Petersburg), which is Russia’s largest company specialising in photovoltaics.
