EBRD supports China’s Risen Energy expansion in Kazakhstan

The EBRD is teaming up with a new investor in Kazakhstan’s renewable energy sector, China’s Risen Energy, for the construction of a new 40MW solar plant in the Karaganda region of the country.

The financing package arranged by the EBRD includes a local currency loan of up to US$ 22 million in KZT equivalent, a loan of up to US$ 5.8 million loan from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and up to US$ 4.2 million loan from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). This will be the first facility provided jointly by EBRD and GCF to finance a solar project in Kazakhstan as part of the Framework Agreement to co-finance renewable energy in the country signed earlier in 2018.

The 40MW solar PV plant will be constructed and operated by Risen Energy – a leading Chinese manufacturer of solar modules, which is now developing a portfolio of solar projects worldwide and in Kazakhstan. The project will mark the EBRD’s first cooperation in the sector and in the country with a Chinese company.

New solar plant will help reduce CO2 emissions by 55,000 tonnes per year and contribute to the national emission reduction targets as well as the EBRD’s Green Economy Transition strategy.

The project is a continuation of the cooperation between EBRD and the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the development of renewable energy in the country in line with the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2017.

In total, it will be the sixth project to be signed under the Bank’s Kazakhstan Renewables Framework, a € 200 million facility that finances renewable energy projects in the Central Asian country and benefits from a US$ 110 million contribution from the GCF.

In 2017 alone the EBRD invested a record €4.1 billion into green economy projects under its Green Economy Transition approach. To date, the EBRD has invested over US$ 8.7 billion in the economy of Kazakhstan.