EBRD and CTF provide $ 44.5 million for solar park in Kazakhstan

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced it will provide a $44.5 million loan for the 50 MW Burnoye Solar-2 project in Kazakhstan in partnership with Clean Technology Fund (CTF), which will contribute $10 million.

The plant will be located close to the 50 MW Burnoye Solar-1 project in the southern region of Zhambyl. Phase I of the project is the country’s first grid-connected PV plant developed under the under the new renewable energy legislation.

Both plants were planned by Samruk Kazyna United Green Energy Ltd., which is a joint venture between UK investment firm UG Energy Ltd and Samruk-Kazyna Invest, a division of the local sovereign wealth fund.

The 50 MW project will require an overall investment of $80 million. The remaining funds will be provided by the owners of the future solar park, EBRD said in its statement.

The loan agreements were signed by the representatives of the bank and Nurlan Kapenov, the general director of Burnoye Solar-2 LLP during the Expo 2017 in Astana.

“Kazakhstan needs more projects like Burnoye. I am proud that we are signing it just as vital discussions about clean, secure and affordable energy in the region kick off at the high-level Ministerial Conference on Energy, part of the Astana Expo 2017. Following the success of Burnoye Solar-1 this second project is a demonstration that Kazakhstan is truly a part of the global renewable energy revolution that is happening right now,” said EBRD’s Managing Director for Energy and Natural Resources Nandita Parshad.

The 50 MW Burnoye Solar-1 project was also financed by EBRD and the CTF with $80 million in 2015.

In late 2016, however, Kazakh Minister of Energy Kanat Bozumbayev said he was planning to introduce an auction scheme for renewable energy, after several failed attempts at introducing a FIT program made by the country’s government over the previous years.