New Delhi: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Bhutan have agreed on a $30 million loan agreement to support the Distributed Solar for Public Infrastructure Project.
The project aims to generate up to 35 megawatts of solar power systems on the rooftops of public infrastructure buildings across Bhutan to address the country’s energy security challenges, an ADB press release stated.
“ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty,” the release added.
The loan agreement, signed by ADB Country Director for Bhutan Shamit Chakravarti and Ministry of Finance Director of Department of Macro-fiscal and Development Finance Tshering Dorji, states that the ADB will provide $30 million in financing, while the government of Bhutan will contribute $1 million from its Technical Assistance Special Fund and Clean Energy Fund under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility.
It comes with a ‘technical assistance grant’ of $1 million in order to support development of guidelines to expand rooftop solar investments, promote new solar technologies through a pilot project, enhance local workforce skills.
“Distributed solar in public buildings will provide reliable power supply to essential public services and will serve as demonstration before expanding to industrial, commercial, and residential buildings,” said ADB Energy Specialist Jongmi Son. “The agrivoltaics pilot project can be a promising solution for addressing food and energy security issues simultaneously in a land- constrained country like Bhutan,” Jongmi Son added.