Afghan’s largest solar plant to secure $45mn bank fund

Bloomberg

Afghanistan will build its first 20-megawatt solar power plant in a bid to meet rising energy demand in a country that imports most of its electricity. The project in the capital will be funded by the Asian Development Bank, which is providing $45 million, according to a statement emailed. It will be built in the Naghlu area of Kabul’s Surobi district.
“Considering 300 sunny days per year with free solar irradiation to generate solar power, it makes Afghanistan an attractive country for implementing solar power projects,” said Finance Minister Eklil Hakimi in the statement. The rapidly declining cost of solar equipment has opened new markets in developing countries for the technology.
Until recently, it was seen as an expensive way to generate electricity, but prices for solar panels have plummeted 62 percent in the past five years, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Photovoltaic panels are now being used as a cost-effective way to bring electricity to areas with unstable grids or no access to power at all, particularly in the developing areas of Asia, such as Afghanistan, as well as sub-Saharan Africa.
“The demand for power is rapidly growing across Afghanistan,” Samuel Tumiwa, a country director at the bank, said in the statement.
“The new on-grid solar power generation project, which is the largest of its kind in Afghanistan, will not only provide access to a clean and reliable power supply, but also demonstrate the viability of future renewable energy investments through public-private partnerships.”
Afghanistan mainly imports electricity. The country’s total dem-
and is about 3 gigawatts, with domestic generation at 300 megawatts, according to Da Afghanistan Bres-hna Sherkat, a government-owned organization which manages its power supply.
Only 32 percent of Afghanistan’s more than 30 million people have access to grid-connected power,
according to the bank.