AKIPRESS.COM - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is looking at providing a senior secured loan of up to US$25 million to finance a 50-MW wind park in Mongolia, according to SeeNews Renewables.

Clean Energy Asia LLC's Tsetsii project, worth $120 million, is located in the Tsogttsetsii district of Umnugovi province, the southern parts of the Gobi desert.

EBRD will co-finance the project alongside the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). In addition, the Japanese government will allocate a $746,125 grant under its Japan-EBRD Cooperation Fund for the upgrade of state-owned National Transmission Power Grid company’s existing Tavan Tolgoi substation.

The borrower is a special purpose company, in which domestic telecommunications, property and energy conglomerate Newcom Group hold a 51% stake. The remaining 49% is owned by SB Energy Corp – the renewables arm of Japanese telecommunications and technology major SoftBank Group Corp.

The plant will help diversify Mongolia’s coal-dependent power sector while offsetting as much as 230,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually.