ADB Signs Loan for First Cross-Border Wind Power Project in Asia
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Monsoon Wind Power Company (Monsoon) signed a US$692.55 million nonrecourse project financing package to build a 600-megawatt wind power plant in Sekong and Attapeu provinces in the southern region of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR).
Comprising 133 wind turbines, the project will be the largest wind power plant in Southeast Asia and the first in the Lao PDR and the plant when complete will export and sell power to neighboring Vietnam.
As sole mandated lead arranger and bookrunner, ADB has, arranged, structured, and syndicated the entire financing package—the largest syndicated renewable project financing transaction among ASEAN countries to date.
The package comprises a US$100 million A loan from ADB’s ordinary capital resources, a US$150 million syndicated B loan, US$50 million in concessional financing, US$382.55 million in parallel loans, and a US$10 million grant. Cutting edge use of concessional blended finance was critical in overcoming the project’s bankability hurdles to crowd in commercial capital.
“Developing economies in Asia and the Pacific face shortfalls in climate investments that are needed to clear a pathway to green growth. The syndication of development and commercial financing for this project bridges this gap by mobilizing private capital to develop wind resources which are translated into clean power generation that can spur economic and social advancement in the region,” said ADB Private Sector Operations Department Director General Suzanne Gaboury.“
Cross-border power supply has been a pillar of the Lao PDR’s economic growth. Harnessing the country’s untapped wind resources can provide energy diversification as the seasonality of the wind resource is countercyclical to the rainy season, which supports the country’s hydropower generation. The project will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least 748,867 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
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