Zarafshon Wind Farm

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The project entails the development of the 500MW Zarafshon wind farm in Navoi region, south-western Uzbekistan. The project site will have a substation connecting the wind farm to existing 220 kV overhead transmission lines (OHLs) that run across the site via 2 short 220 kV OHLs. Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment, is the sponsor. Masdar in June 2020 signed agreements to develop the wind power project and investment agreement and a 25-year power purchase agreement. The total value of the project is $593.4 million. The project company - Shamol Zarafshan Energy Foreign Enterprise LLC, has financed the $593.4 million greenfield with about a 70:30 debt-to-equity ratio with a 20-year door-to-door tenor. It has lined up roughly $415 million in debt from the following financial institutions: EBRD ($42 million A loan; $22 million revolving VAT facility), ADB ($75 million A loan; $20 million B loan), IFC ($75 million A loan; $20 million B loan; $7 million risk management), FMO (20 million B loan), JICA, Natixis and First Abu Dhabi Bank. United Arab Emirates' export credit agency - Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI), is providing comprehensive cover on the commercial bank tranche. ADB also signed a sovereign-backed partial credit guarantee of $19.5 million to mitigate the credit risk of the state-owned offtaker, Joint Stock Company National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan (NEGU). The project's scheduled commercial operations date is in 2024. Financial close was achieved on 2 September, 2022. https://news.masdar.ae/en/News/2022/09/02/15/29/Masdar-Achieves-Financial-Close-on-Uzbekistans https://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/press/2022/20220905_31.html https://pressroom.ifc.org/all/pages/PressDetail.aspx?ID=27162 https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/SII/44364/zarafshon-wind https://www.ebrd.com/news/2022/ebrdled-us-74-million-package-supports-biggest-renewables-project-in-central-asia.html https://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/projects/psd/52362.html https://www.adb.org/projects/55248-002/main https://www.adb.org/news/adb-signs-52-million-loan-masdar-build-largest-wind-power-plant-central-asia http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/asiapacific/2021-04/02/c_139854434.htm