Hevel starts building solar farm in Akmola region
ALMATY. June 17 (Interfax) - Russian solar power company Hevel Group has begun building a 100 MW solar farm, called Nura, in the Akmola region, the company said in a press release on Monday.
Nura will be one of the largest solar farms in the CIS, the press release said.
The Kazakhstan-based subsidiary of Hevel Group concluded a number of deals, as a result of which the company's project portfolio in the country increased to reach 178 MW, including construction of the solar farms Nura (100 MW), Sarybulak (4.95 MW), and Kapshagai (3 MW), it said.
The projects will be financed using the company's own funds and borrowings from the Eurasian Development Bank. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
The abovementioned solar farms will be put into operation in 2020.
In 2019, Hevel will additionally begin construction of a 50 MW solar farm in Kentau, the Turkestan region, and a 20 MW solar farm in Shymkent. The company acquired the rights to build these solar energy farms in 2018 at an auction of renewable energy sources projects (RES), which was conducted by the government of Kazakhstan.
Hevel's subsidiaries and Kazakhstan's National Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna signed a memorandum of cooperation in renewable energy in June 2019. Samruk-Kazyna said earlier that Hevel would build 300 MW worth of RES assets in Kazakhstan in the next two years.
The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) and Hevel sealed a loan agreement of 56.2 million euros in February 2019 to finance construction of solar farms in Kazakhstan, their installed capacity totaling 90 MW.
Hevel Group was established in 2009 as a joint venture of Rosnano and Renova, which is owned by Victor Vekselberg. Hevel is Russia's largest integrated solar energy company. Its key activities are focused on high-tech manufacturing of solar modules, construction and operation of solar power plants, and solar energy research. The solar energy assets under the company's management total 907.5 MW.