Abu Dhabi fund approves $105m for clean energy projects

• The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development will support half a dozen megawatt scale projects featuring solar in the Caribbean and Africa. In addition to around 42.5 MW of new solar capacity, the fund will also back the development of energy storage, waste-to-energy and biogas facilities.

The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has announced plans to provide $105 million of loan financing to support the development of eight renewable energy projects, including 42.5 MW of new solar generation capacity.

The projects were selected by the Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) under the IRENA/ADFD Project Facility, which has loaned $350 million to such projects across seven funding cycles.

The ADFD disburses overseas development loans provided by the government of the emirate.

Recipients

The planned installations – to be built in Burkina Faso, Chad, Cuba, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – will bring the number of projects funded by the IRENA/ADFD initiative to 32, representing about 200 MW of new renewable energy generation capacity.

“The record levels of funding announced in this cycle of the facility will not only support the eight chosen countries in their pursuit of energy and climate plans but will also further global ambitions to build a sustainable future,” said IRENA director-general Francesco La Camera. “This facility is a true reflection of the transformational outcomes that organizations with shared goals can deliver when they come together, and provides a blueprint [for] effective cooperation in the future.”

The ADFD will allocate a $15 million loan for an 8 MW solar-wind hybrid power plant in Antigua and Barbuda and will lend $20 million for 8.5 MW of solar generation capacity backed by 2 MW of energy storage, on Isla de la Juventud, in Cuba.

Caribbean dream

In addition, development lender will provide $15 million to support 10 MW of solar on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia, for a project which includes battery storage and in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the ADFD will lend $10 million for a 7 MW solar array.

In Africa, the sovereign body will provide $5.5 million in loans for a 3 MW solar project in Burkina Faso and $15 million to support a 6 MW facility in Chad.

In South Asia, the fund will lend $14 million for a waste-to-energy plant in the Maldives and $10 million for the installation of 20 biogas digesters in Nepal, to convert organic waste into energy.