EBRD Extends Renewables Financing worth EUR 300 Million in Kazakhstan

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced that it is assuring fresh funds to support Kazakhstan’s drive as a regional leader to encourage renewable energy, with the help of a second phase of the Bank’s Kazakhstan Renewables Framework of up to EUR 300 million.

The facility will encourage solar, wind, hydro, biogas, distribution and transmission projects and is projected to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 500,000 tonnes per year.

The EBRD Board of Directors sanctioned the extension to the present Framework, which has been almost fully utilized. The first phase supported the foundation of 262 MW of renewable power-generation capacity across the country, involved four private international investors and supported a grid-strengthening project.

In addition to the EBRD funding, the Framework will be supported by concessional finance from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). It will also benefit from a comprehensive technical cooperation programme, which will support competitive tendering for wind projects, the development of a carbon market in Kazakhstan and the promotion of gender inclusion in the renewable energy sector.

In September 2019, in order to address the implications of climate change for Kazakhstan, the country’s Ministry of Energy and the EBRD signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reaffirming the Bank’s commitment to supporting renewables projects in Kazakhstan, focusing on financing competitively tendered renewables projects.

The extension of the Kazakhstan Renewables Framework will help the country to reach its renewable energy targets of 3 percent of generation by 2020 and 50 percent by 2050 and to meet its commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement.