IFC, the Clean Technology Fund, KBank, BAY and Thanachart Bank finance SPCG Pcl. to support expand renewable energy in Thailand.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, KASIKORNBANK, Bank of Ayudhya and Thanachart Bank are supporting renewable energy use via solar power by providing loans to Solar Power Co., Ltd.’s two solar farms totaling 890 million Baht. The company is the first in Thailand to be provided funding from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), a multi-donor facility administered by the World Bank that promotes scaled-up financing for demonstration, deployment and transfer of low-carbon technologies with significant potential for long-term greenhouse gas emissions savings. Mr. Sergio Pimenta, IFC's Director for East Asia and the Pacific said IFC's investment would help improve the supply of renewable energy, promote access to infrastructure, and help create jobs in rural areas of Thailand. He added that the investments through IFC and the Clean Technology Fund in Solar Power Company plants would help catalyze private sector investment in renewable energy, specifically solar, in Thailand. Mr. Pimenta said that this first investment of the Clean Technology Fund in Thailand’s renewable energy sector will help to demonstrate the viability of lending to small-scale solar projects, and attract more financing from the banking sector. SPCG Managing Director Wandee Khunchornyakong said the company’s new solar farms in Nakhon Ratchasima and Loei each have a 6-megawatt capacity and use top-quality polycrystalline solar panels produced by Japan’s Kyocera Corp., a major solar panel producer. SPCG is currently running three solar farms in Nakhon Ratchasima, Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom with a combined 18-megawatt capacity, from which electricity is sold to the Provincial Electricity Authority of Thailand (PEA). The two new solar farms are also part of SPCG’s goal of 34 6-megawatt solar farms with a combined capacity of 204 megawatts. Each farm is of a 6-megawatt large commercial scale. The company has already signed the Power Purchase Agreements with the PEA for the two new farms. Mr. Krisada Lamsam, Senior Executive Vice President of KASIKORNBANK, said these are the first projects in Thailand which have been provided funding from the CTF. KBank has been appointed the mandated lead arranger for SPCG for a 890-million-Baht syndicated loan jointly provided by IFC, BAY and Thanachart Bank. Of the total, KBank provides 210 million Baht, BAY and Thanachart Bank provide 158 million Baht each, while IFC lends 244 million Baht and CTF lends 120 million Baht equivalent in US dollars. The credits will be used to finance a second solar farm in Nakhon Ratchasima and a new solar farm in Loei, each with a 6-megawatt capacity. The electricity generated from these two farms will be sold to the PEA under the Very Small Power Producer (VSPP) project. Additionally, KBank has been appointed the commercial bank facility agent and the security agent for the company, providing a letter of credit issuance for importing of solar panels and other relevant equipment, as well as a credit limit for currency risk hedging.

• ข่าวthe World Bank Group
• ข่าวBank of Ayudhya
• ข่าวThanachart Bank
• ข่าวo:eco
• ข่าวo:fin