The International Finance Corp. (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is providing $66 million and mobilizing a further $172 million in a landmark transaction to help build what IFC says will be Pakistan’s largest wind facility.
The financing for Triconboston Consulting Corp. will help construct and operate three new 50 MW wind farms in Sindh province. Triconboston is majority owned by the Sapphire Group, a 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. IFC notes that Pakistan suffers from frequent power cuts that hamper social and economic development and cost the country an estimated 2% of gross domestic product every year.
“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,” says Nadeem Abdullah, Triconboston’s CEO. “It is testament to Sapphire’s ambition to become a leading renewable power developer in Pakistan, after having already successfully commissioned our first 52.8 MW wind farm in 2015.”
Other financiers include the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and DEG – Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft. The plant is expected to be fully commissioned by the end of 2018, says IFC.
“IFC has been at the forefront of investing and mobilizing financing to support private-sector participation in Pakistan’s power sector,” says Mouayed Makhlouf, IFC’s director for the Middle East and North Africa region. “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.”
The work is part of the World Bank Group’s Pakistan Transformational Energy Initiative and Joint Implementation Plan, which aims to mobilize $10 billion in new generation investments to address the country’s acute power shortage and improve sector sustainability, says IFC.
