TASHKENT, May 2010 -- The Asian Development Bank on Monday launched a $9 billion initiative to spur the development of solar power in Asia s developing countries over the next three years.
ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda announced the initiative in a speech at the opening session of the ADB Board of Governors meeting in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, saying it is meant to cover sustainable solar energy expansion in our developing member countries.
This will serve as a major platform for sharing information on solar technology, projects, products and issues and facilitate the transfer of financial resources to developing countries, he said.
The ADB itself will directly provide $2.25 billion while the rest of the $9 billion is expected to come from private-sector investment. In addition, a $500 million fund will also be raised from donor countries to buy down the high upfront capital costs of investing in solar energy.
Under the initiative, the ADB will identify and develop solar projects expected to generate some 3,000 megawatts of solar power by 2012.
The initiative will make available a range of projects, finance and knowledge sharing mechanisms so as to attract banks and the private sector to invest in these projects, an ADB statement said.
Central Asia with its large arid lands is seen as most conducive for the projects, along with India, Pakistan and China.
Solar is very land-intensive, so we can do solar only when land is cheap and doesn t have any alternative use, said S. Chander, who chair s ADB s energy committee.
Solar power accounts for less than 1 percent of total energy sources in Asia. The main drawback is that it is more expensive than other energy sources, costing 30-35 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour compared to 7-10 cents for conventional energy sources.
The ADB had supported the first large-scale solar power project in Thailand before this, disbursing a loan of $55 million.
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