ADB backs Asia’s first cross-border wind energy project

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$693m announced for 600MW wind power plant in Sekong and Attapeu provinces in Laos for energy export to Vietnam.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Monsoon Wind Power Company Limited (Monsoon) have signed an agreement to develop a major new windfarm close to the Laos-Vietnam border for energy export.

The 133 wind turbines will form the largest wind power plant in Southeast Asia and the first in Laos, with power generated set to support growth across the border in Vietnam through energy export.

The projects also represents the largest syndicated renewable project financing transaction among ASEAN countries to date, with a $100m loan from ADB’s ordinary capital resources, a $150m syndicated B loan, $50m in concessional financing, $383m in parallel loans and a $10m grant.

ADB private sector operations department director general Suzanne Gaboury explained: “Developing economies in Asia and the Pacific face shortfalls in climate investments that are needed to clear a pathway to green growth. The syndication of development and commercial financing for this project bridges this gap by mobilising private capital to develop wind resources which are translated into clean power generation that can spur economic and social advancement in the region.”

Cross-border power supply has been a pillar of the Lao PDR’s economic growth. This new financing will help unlock Laos’ untapped wind resources, providing a basis for a transition to clean energy and green growth that will have lasting benefits for the economy.

Harnessing the country’s untapped wind resources can provide energy diversification as the seasonality of the wind resource is countercyclical to the rainy season, which supports the country’s hydropower generation. The project will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least 700,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The project’s developer Impact Electrons Siam Company Limited’s CEO Peck Khamkanist commented: “Together with ADB, we take this milestone step in the global fight against climate change coupled with our own corporate mission to uplift the well-being and happiness of the local communities we work within.”