ADB provides loan for 100 MW M-KAT solar power project in Kazakhstan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed an agreement for a $30.5 million loan in tenge equivalent to M-KAT Green LLP—a special purpose vehicle created for the project—to build and operate a solar plant to ease power supply shortages and boost the share of renewable sources in the country’s energy mix.

M-KAT Green is 100% owned by Total Eren SA. The project is cofinanced with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and is ADB’s first project in Central Asia with Total Eren.

The 100-megawatt (MW) power plant is already under construction in the country’s southeast, near the town of Shu in the Jambyl Region. It will cover 500 hectares and is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2019.

The power plant will help Kazakhstan fulfill its nationally determined contribution to the Paris Agreement on climate change by reducing carbon emissions. Power from the project will be sold under a 15-year power purchase agreement between M-KAT Green and the Financial Settlement Centre for Support to Renewable Energy Sources, a limited liability partnership 100% owned by the Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company.