Solar-power firm wins overseas support
SPCG, the largest solar-power producer in Thailand, is the first company in the country to be granted financing from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), a multi-donor facility administered by the World Bank, to support its two new solar projects.
SPCG managing director Wandee Khunchornyakong said the company’s new solar farms in Nakhon Ratchasima and Loei each had 6-megawatt capacity and used top-quality polycrystalline solar panels produced by Japan’s Kyocera Corp, a major solar-panel manufacturer.
The two new facilities are among 34 solar-farm projects with a combined capacity of 204MW. Each farm is of a 6MW large commercial scale. The company has already signed power purchase agreements with the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) for the two new farms.
The electricity generated from these two farms will be sold to the PEA under the Very Small Power Producer (VSPP) project. They are supported by loans totalling Bt890 million from the CTF, the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp, Kasikornbank, Bank of Ayudhya (BAY) and Thanachart Bank. Of the total, KBank is providing Bt210 million, BAY and Thanachart Bank Bt158 million each, IFC Bt244 million and the CTF Bt120 million.
The CTF, a multi-donor facility administered by the World Bank, will promote scaled-up financing for demonstration, deployment and transfer of low-carbon technologies with significant potential for long-term savings in greenhouse-gas emissions.
Sergio Pimenta, director for East Asia and the Pacific of IFC, said that investments through IFC and the CTF in SPCG plants would help catalyse private-sector investment in renewable energy, specifically solar energy, in Thailand.
He said the first investment from the CTF in Thailand’s renewable-energy sector would demonstrate the viability of lending to small-scale solar projects, and attract more financing from the banking sector.
Krisada Lamsam, senior executive vice president of KBank, said local financial houses should play a role in supporting businesses that can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. KBank will join with the CTF to provide loans to local power producers who are qualified under CTF requirements.
KBank has been appointed the mandated lead arranger for SPCG for the Bt890-million syndicated loan.
Additionally, KBank has been appointed the commercial bank facility agent and the security agent for the company, providing a letter of credit to import solar panels and other relevant equipment, as well as a credit limit for currency-risk hedging.
SPCG is currently running three solar farms – in Nakhon Ratchasima, Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom – with a combined capacity of 18MW, from which electricity is sold to the PEA.
