Deal to boost solar power development

Plant with total capacity of 100 MW to be built in Lingang Industrial Area

The Chinese government and the New Development Bank signed a loan agreement on Wednesday, approving the provision of 525 million-yuan ($75.5 million) sovereign project loan for the bank's first project in China, the Shanghai Lingang Distributed Solar Power Project.

The agreement was signed by Shi Yaobin, vice-minister of finance and K.V. Kamath, the president of the NDB.

The NDB, formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

"This 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," said Shi.

"As Shanghai embarks on a more balanced, coordinated, and sustainable development path, we look forward to working with the NDB and benefiting from its financial, technological, and managerial expertise," said Ying Yong, executive vice-mayor of Shanghai.

The project will be implemented by Shanghai Lingang Hongbo New Energy Development Co Ltd. Under the framework of the project, a solar photovoltaic power plant with total capacity of 100 MW will be built in Lingang Industrial Area, one of the six major functional development areas of Shanghai. The project will be divided into a number of smaller sub-projects that will be sequentially implemented over a period of three years.

Kamath said: "We welcome the signing of our first loan agreement, which is a seminal event for the NDB. 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."

In July 2016, the NDB issued its first bond in China. It was the first time that an international financial institution issued a green financial bond in China's onshore interbank bond market. The size of the issue was 3 billion yuan. The project will be financed by the proceeds of the issue.