ADB

The Indian Ocean island nation, which has been a prominent voice in the global calls to combat rising sea levels, will get technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank to draw up a tender for 20-30MW of photovoltaic generation capacity.

The facility was jointly funded by the Asian Development Bank and German state development lender the KfW.

Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy has revealed plans to launch a new solar tender in early 2021. Separately, the Asian Development Bank signed a deal last week to provide up to $175 million in loans to back the development of another 100 MW solar project in the country.

The development lender has followed up a $600 million loan for distribution infrastructure in eastern Indonesia with a $430 million credit line for installations in India.

The Asian Development Bank has added Kazakhstan to the list of nations where it is issuing bonds denominated in local currencies as an alternative for investors to having to use international lenders.

Raach Solar and its Power Utility Bangladesh Ltd local partner have landed two contracts to supply more than 700 pumps in the north-western Bogra district, with the Asian Development Bank footing the bill.

The government in Dhaka hopes plans for the Spectra Solar Project, and the international backing for it, will help showcase the attractiveness of solar investment in the country for private sector money.

The government of the Federated States of Micronesia wants to increase power generation capacity on the islands of Yap and Kosrae.

The country’s previous solar target was 4 GW by 2031. Around 1.4 GW of large scale projects are expected to be tendered this year, according to a document published by the Ministry of Energy.

The Asian Development Bank says developing countries in Asia and the Pacific should consider developing their own solar industry supply chains as the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed their over-reliance on China to carry through the energy transition.