The Asian Development Bank and Gulf Renewable Energy Company Limited have signed a USD 350 million loan agreement to support renewable energy development in Thailand. The financing will fund the construction of three projects that combine solar power and battery energy storage systems.
The projects include two solar plus battery energy storage facilities with a combined contracted capacity of 126 megawatts and 151 megawatt hours of storage. A separate solar power plant with a capacity of 68 megawatts will also be developed. The combined projects are expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 191,550 tons per year. This supports Thailand’s target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
The projects are part of Thailand’s 5 gigawatt renewable energy feed in tariff program. According to the Asian Development Bank, this represents the first large scale procurement of solar and battery energy storage systems in Southeast Asia.
ADB acted as the sole mandated lead arranger and bookrunner for the transaction. The financing package includes USD 75 million from ADB ordinary capital resources and a US D50 million B loan provided by DBS Bank Ltd.
An additional USD 150 million in parallel loans is being provided by DEG Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, Development Finance Institute Canada Inc., and Export Finance Australia. The Leading Asia Private Infrastructure Fund 2, administered by ADB, is contributing USD 75 million to the total financing package.
(Source: Asian Development Bank)
