Gulf Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Gulf Energy Development Public Company (Gulf), announced the closing of a $820 million loan to support the construction of a portfolio of 12 renewable energy projects across Thailand.
ADB led the funding as the mandated lead arranger and bookrunner. The funding package comprises $260 million from ADB’s ordinary capital resources and $529 million in parallel loans from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (German Development Finance Institution), the Export-Import Bank of China, and KEXIM Global (Singapore), among others.
Additionally, ADB is said to provide $31.35 million in blended concessional funding from the Clean Technology Fund.
The portfolio includes eight ground-mounted solar projects totaling 393 MW and four ground-mounted solar projects with battery energy storage systems totaling 256 MW and 396 MWh of energy storage.
The projects supported by the funding are part of Thailand’s 5 GW renewable energy feed-in-tariff program. Thailand aims to increase its renewable energy generation to 50% by 2037.
Gulf Energy Development Public, established in 2011, is a power generation company based in Thailand with a total installed generation capacity of 14.5 GW as of October 2024.
“This portfolio of projects significantly enhances solar energy and solar energy with battery storage in Thailand, marking a major step forward in the country’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality. It also offers a compelling model that can be replicated throughout the region,” said ADB Director General for Private Sector Operations Suzanne Gaboury.
According to Mercom’s 9M and Q3 2024 Solar Funding and M&A report, large-scale project funding in 9M 2024 totaled $34.3 billion in 180 deals, up from $27.5 billion in 169 deals in 9M 2023.
Earlier this year, in May, Dynamic Sun Energy, a unit of Paramount Textile, secured a financial package from the Asian Development Bank to build and operate a 100 MW grid-connected solar power project in Pabna, Bangladesh.
