IFC to provide $238m for largest wind power farm

Other financiers include Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and DEG

WASHINGTON: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will provide and arrange $238 million in a landmark transaction to help build Pakistan’s largest wind power farm to address energy shortages and boost the development of renewable energy, IFC said Friday.

A member of the World Bank Group, IFC will provide $66 million and mobilise a further $172 million in financing of Triconboston Consulting Corporation to construct and operate three new 50-megawatt wind farms in Sindh province.

Other financiers include the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and DEG - Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft.

This is the first time in Pakistan that a portfolio of three separate plants will be internationally financed by a single consortium, bringing further innovation to Pakistan’s project finance market.

The plant is expected to be fully commissioned by the end of 2018 and will make its greatest contributions during the high-demand summer months, providing clean power to about 600,000 residential customers, according to an IFC statement.

“The new wind farm will generate reliable, clean energy at lower prices and help reduce pressure on the country’s power grid, while mitigating climate change,” said Triconboston CEO Nadeem Abdullah. Triconboston is majority owned by the Sapphire Group, a leading Pakistani industrial group, with significant interests in textile and power. The project is part of IFC’s broader efforts to foster private participation in Pakistan’s power sector to increase investments, help diversify energy sources, cut the cost of electricity and reduce the use of polluting and expensive fossil fuels.

Pakistan is currently facing power shortages that hamper social and economic development and cost the country an estimated 2% of the gross domestic product every year.

“IFC has been at the forefront of investing and mobilising financing to support private sector participation in Pakistan’s power sector,” said IFC’s director for the Middle East and North Africa region Mouayed Makhlouf.

“This is our fifth investment in wind power in the last three years in Pakistan. The project will also support Sapphire in their diversification strategy in renewables.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2017.

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