BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 25. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed a credit agreement to allocate 130 billion Kazakh tenge ($280 million) for comprehensive modernization of the Almaty Combined Heat and Power Plant 2 (CHPP-2), Trend reports via the EBRD.
The agreement was signed between the EBRD and Almaty Power Plants JSC, the owner of the plant.
The construction of the new gas station on the CHPP-2 site will be financed jointly by the EBRD, the Asian Development Bank, and the Development Bank of Kazakhstan.
According to the Bank, the project is a part of the Green Cities Program of EBRD and is aimed at the full replacement of coal with natural gas as a primary fuel in order to reduce CO2 emissions and improve air quality in Almaty city.
“The EBRD loan will finance brownfield deep modernization of 510 MW Combined Heat and Power Plant-2 in Almaty with the conversion from coal to gas. The Project will have a significant immediate impact on air quality in Almaty. After modernization, the Plant will be able to provide a certain balancing capacity to the national grid and will facilitate faster implementation of renewable energy projects and back up the development of renewable heating solutions, in line with the Low Carbon Pathway for the energy and heating sector. In addition to environmental impact, the Project will provide support for improved institutional-level capacity on gender and youth inclusion,” the Bank said.
As the EBRD Vice President Alain Pilloux said, the bank expects climate and green finance to account for more than half of the EBRD's annual investments by 2025.
“This is a great example of a green project that will improve the air quality in Almaty, the quality of life of the local population and bring Kazakhstan closer to complying with the Paris Agreement and its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060,” the EBRD representative said.
The modernization project involves the construction of a new station utilizing gas turbine technologies with a capacity of up to 600 MW at the site of Almaty CHPP-2. The project is expected to be commissioned in December 2026.