$41 million financing for renewable energy projectsJan 20 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - K.T. Abdurabb Arab News, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
More than $41 million in concessional loans for renewable energy projects will be provided to Republic of Ecuador, Sierra Leone, the Maldives, Mauritania, Samoa, and Mali by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD). "IRENA and ADFD selected projects bring power to isolated off-grid populations, in some cases for the first time. This will stimulate local economic development and raise living standards," said Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA's director-general. The projects have a combined total capacity of 35 MW and will bring reliable and sustainable power to rural communities that are currently lacking access to modern energy services. The projects selected will provide energy to over 300,000 people and numerous businesses. In total, 35 megawatts (MW) of energy capacity will come online, along with 4 million liters of biodiesel production per year. Around 1.3 billion people around the world lack access to modern energy services and the renewable energy technologies offer great potential to close this gap, provided suitable financing becomes available. "Financing is one of the key issues renewable energy is facing, particularly in the developing world. That is why IRENA and ADFD teamed up to de-risk investments in promising renewable projects," Adnan Z. Amin added. The UAE government has committed a total of $350 million in concessional loans through ADFD to support the deployment and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy in developing countries. The current financing cycle is the first of seven. IRENA is assessing the socio-economic impact and technical merit of the projects, and ADFD is making its selection based on the Agency's recommendation. Ecuador will get a loan of $ 5 million to build a small hydro project with 3 MW capacity. This project will provide energy to a community of over 7,000 people and power for schools and medical facilities. Maldives will get $6 million to build small-scale waste-to-energy project and desalinated water output. The project which will have a capacity of 2 MW will provide 62 million liters of drinking water per year. More than 120,000 people will benefit from the project. Mali will get $9 million for a hybrid solar PV diesel mini-grids for rural villages. The 4MW-project will provide electricity in 30 villages. Mauritania will be focusing on wind energy projects for four coastal communities. They will get $5million for a 15 MW project, which will mainly help to provide energy to people isolated from the grid. Samoa will get $7 million to build Biomass gasification and biodiesel plants on two islands. The 3 MW project will produce 4 million liters of biodiesel per year Sierra Leone will have $9 million for 6MW grid connected solar PV project in Peri-urban area. "We aim to help communities in developing countries achieve highest levels of progress. We hope to be a partner and strong contributor in achieving sustainable development through offering concessional loans and administering government grants to finance development projects that affect vital sectors including renewable energy; an important pillar to achieving sustainable development," said Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, director-general of ADFD. "We launched this initiative to finance up to 50 percent of each project in order to allow for the remainder to be financed by banks, international financial institutions and other development partners. This will mobilize the financing required from the private and public sectors, and help build local financial markets and create valuable know-how for the future," said Al-Suwaidi. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=31255879& |