New Development Bank's first loan will be to Chinese solar farm
The New Development Bank (NDB) has given out its first loan for renewable energy since being founded in 2014. The bank loaned CNY525m ($75.6m) to Shanghai Lingang Hongbo New Energy Development to help fund the creation of a 100 MW solar power farm near Shanghai. The NDB has already approved seven clean energy projects supporting the creation of 1.5 GW of renewable capacity across the BRICs countries. However, this is the first loan agreement to have been formally sanctioned.

NDB president K.V. Kamath (right) and the vice minister of the Chinese Ministry of Finance, Shi Yaobin, sign the loan agreement.

The New Development Bank (NDB), which was set up in 2014 as a multilateral development lender among the BRICS nations, has this week signed its first loan agreement in the field of renewable energy.

A total of 525 million yuan ($75.6 million) has been loaned by the NDB to Shanghai Lingang Hongbo New Energy Development Co., to help support the creation of a 100 MW solar PV plant located near to Shanghai, China.

The lending institution – comprised of banks representing Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) – was officially launched in 2015 with an initial financing war chest of $100 billion. Since inception, the NDB has already approved seven clean energy investment projects totaling $1.5 billion and supporting the creation of 1.5 GW of renewable capacity across the BRICS nations.

However, this is the bank’s first loan agreement to be formally sanctioned, and was signed on Tuesday by NDB president K.V. Kamath and the vice minister of the Chinese Ministry of Finance, Shi Yaobin.

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Speaking after the signing, Yaobin said: “This loan agreement demonstrates the strong commitment of the Chinese government to support NDB in delivering its mandate of promoting infrastructure and sustainable development in members of the bank.”

Kamath called the agreement a seminal event for NDB, adding: “The Shanghai Lingang Distributed Solar Power Project is a good example of forward-looking and green investment. We hope that this project and other projects supported by the Bank will act as catalysts for development in our member states.”

The proposed solar farm will be built in the Lingang Industrial Area, one of six development areas of Shanghai, and will be divided into a handful of smaller sub-projects to be built over the next three years.