AKIPRESS.COM - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting French company Urbasolar SAS in its plans to build a solar power plant in Kazakhstan, a country which leads this field in Central Asia.

The new Zadarya solar power plant will add 14MW of solar capacity to Kazakhstan’s energy mix, bringing the total amount of existing and planned renewable energy to 365 MW.

All large-scale renewable energy projects in Kazakhstan under project finance structure have been supported by the EBRD. The Bank also works closely with the government on green energy laws, regulations and other carbon-reduction programmes.

The EBRD will provide a loan in local currency, Kazakh tenge, up to an equivalent of US$ 8.8 million, and the Clean Technology Fund will lend up to US$ 3.9 million for the solar plant in the South Kazakhstan region, near the city of Shymkent. The solar park project will be implemented by a special purpose company, Kaz Green Tek Solar LLP, incorporated in Kazakhstan and majority owned by Urbasolar.

Loan agreements and a project support agreement were signed at the 8th Session of the Assembly of IRENA, the international renewables body, in Abu Dhabi on 13 January 2018.

To date, the EBRD has invested over US$ 8.7 billion in the economy of Kazakhstan.