NUR-SULTAN – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Green Climate Fund (GCF) will loan $16.7 million to China’s Universal Energy to build a 30 MW solar power plant in Zhangiztobe in the East Kazakhstan region.
Photo credit: ebrd.com.
The agreement was signed during the recent Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing that gathered nearly 5,000 delegates, including 40 foreign leaders.
The financial package includes an EBRD loan up to 4.4 billion tenge (US$11.7 million) in local currency and up to $5 million from the GCF, a fund established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by 194 countries, parties to the Convention, in 2010. The fund assists developing countries addressing climate change and reducing carbon emission.
The Zhangiztobe plant is expected to produce approximately 38,900 MW of electricity per year and reduce carbon emissions in the country by 31,650 tonnes per year, thereby contributing to Kazakhstan’s national emission reduction targets.
China’s Universal Energy will develop the project.
“Universal Energy is a company specialised in the investment, development, construction, operation and maintenance of green energy projects. Universal Energy is actively developing a portfolio of solar projects worldwide and in Kazakhstan,” said EBRD statement.
The solar power plant is the eighth project within the EBRD and GCF Kazakhstan Renewable Energy Framework. The framework is a $223 million financial mechanism to finance renewable energy projects in Central Asia, including $110 million contribution from the GCF.
The framework seeks to increase the share of renewable energy in the Kazakh energy mix by supporting the construction of 8-11 renewable energy projects in Kazakhstan with a 310 MW capacity.
EBRD and GCF also recently partnered in financing the construction of a new 40 MW solar plant in the Karaganda region in central Kazakhstan, also home to Central Asia’s largest Saran solar power plant with 100 MW capacity launched in January.
