The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing €17 million of finance to install 27 MW of public-body solar generation capacity across five sites in the city of Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey.
The solar facilities will ensure renewables “power most of [Gaziantep’s] municipal buildings and infrastructure,” according to a press release published on the EBRD website.
Some €7 million of the money will be disbursed as a non-repayable grant from the London-based development lender’s shareholder special fund, which exists to boost other financing packages offered by the institution. The grant will be accompanied by a €10 million, 10-year loan which is being issued as part of Gaziantep’s participation in the EBRD’s Green Cities initiative.
The city has a population of two million people which has risen rapidly with the arrival of 500,000 Syrian refugees and EBRD sustainable infrastructure managing director Nandita Parshad said the solar plan would also help “the city to integrate solar power into electricity grids more broadly.”
Announcing the solar plans last week, the EBRD said Gaziantep has followed the Turkish capital Ankara as well as Izmir and Istanbul into the Green Cities program and will draw up a Green City Action Plan – including details of more sustainable energy supply – financed by the international Clean Technology Fund administered by the World Bank.
