The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved up to €300m (£267.3m) extension of funds to support renewable energy in Kazakhstan.
The fresh funds from the extension of the Kazakhstan Renewables Framework will support Kazakhstan’s effort to promote renewable energy.
The second phase of the Kazakhstan Renewables Framework will allow the country to promote more solar, wind, hydro, biogas, distribution and transmission projects as well as help in reducing CO2 emissions by at least 500,000 tonnes per year.
EBRD said that the first phase supported the installation of 262MW of renewable power-generation capacity across the country. It also attracted four private international investors and supported a grid-strengthening project.
The extension of the Kazakhstan Renewables Framework will help the Central Asian country to reach its goal of producing 3% of its total power from renewable sources by 2020 and 5% by 2050.
Kazakhstan Renewables Framework backed by GCF’s concessional finance
The framework is also being supported by concessional finance as well as a cooperation programme from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to help the country to enable competitive tendering for wind projects, and the development of a carbon market in Kazakhstan.
In April 2019, EBRD, in partnership with GCF has granted $16.7m (£13.4m) loan for the construction of a new 30MW solar power plant in the east of the Kazakhstan.
The proceeds of the funding are expected to be used for financing the construction of the solar power plant, which will be located in Zhangiz-tobe village in the east of the country.
The plant is expected to produce more than 38,900MWh of electricity per annum and would help reduce 31,650 tons of CO2 emissions every year.
Recently, Kazakhstan Ministry of Energy signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the EBRD reaffirming the bank’s commitment to supporting renewables projects with a focus on financing competitively tendered renewables projects.
EBRD said in a statement: “To date, the EBRD has invested over €8.3bn (US$ 9.1 billion equivalent) through 262 projects in the economy of Kazakhstan. Over €2 billion of this funding has supported Green Economy Transition projects.”
