AKIPRESS.COM - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the foreign company Shamol Zarafshan Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), signed a loan agreement worth $52 million to finance the first wind farm in Uzbekistan, the largest in Central Asia.

The 500 megawatt (MW) plant will be located east of Zarafshan city, in Tamdy district of Uzbekistan's Navoi region, the ADB office in Tashkent said. It will help the country meet rapidly growing energy demand, secure energy supplies to underserved urban and rural areas, achieve climate change goals and build climate resilience. The facility will consist of 111 wind turbines with a capacity of 4.5 MW each.

The project is co-financed with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the First Bank of Abu Dhabi, the International Finance Corporation, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and Natixis.

As part of the overall financing package, ADB attracted a tranche of $10 million in the form of a B-category loan from the Dutch Enterprise Development Bank (FMO).

ADB also signed a $19.5 million sovereign partial loan guarantee to mitigate the credit risk of the state-owned operator, National Electric Networks of Uzbekistan Joint Stock Company (NESU).

The Zarafshan wind project will generate 1,599 GW/h of clean energy per year and avoid more than 890,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Shamol Zarafshan Energy will supply its energy to NESU under a 25-year electricity purchase agreement.