The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed an $820m loan with Gulf Renewable Energy Company Limited to finance the construction of 12 renewable energy projects in Thailand. The projects include eight ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) plants and four ground-mounted solar PV plants with battery energy storage.
The solar PV plants will have a contracted capacity of 393 megawatts (MW) and the plants with battery energy storage will have a contracted capacity of 256 MW and 396 MW-hours of energy storage. The projects are part of Thailand’s plan to increase its renewable energy generation to 50% by 2037.
The $820m financing package is led by ADB as the mandated lead arranger and bookrunner. ADB will provide $260m from its ordinary capital resources, and $529m will come from parallel loans from other institutions. These institutions include the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, the Export-Import Bank of China, and KEXIM Global.
In addition to the loan, ADB will also provide $31.35m in blended concessional finance from the Clean Technology Fund. The projects are under Bangkok’s 5-gigawatt renewable energy feed-in-tariff program, which aims to double the country’s installed wind and solar capacity by 2030.
The construction of these renewable energy projects will help Thailand achieve its goal of increasing its renewable energy generation. The projects will also contribute to the country’s efforts to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
The loan agreement was signed between ADB and Gulf Renewable Energy Company Limited, a subsidiary of Gulf Energy Development Public Company Limited. The financing package is a collaboration between ADB and other institutions to support Thailand’s renewable energy development.
