EDB: Azerbaijan secures $675 million in renewable energy investments from IFIs

In 2022-2024, international financial institutions (IFIs) invested over $600 million in the renewable energy sector in Azerbaijan, a source in the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) has said.

The bank stated that investments in renewable energy have become a new trend for microfinance organisations (MFIs). In 2022–2024 alone, they invested $3 billion in the Eurasian region, while since 2008, the total investment in this sector has amounted to $4.4 billion, Caliber.Az reports per local media.

The European Bank for Development and Reconstruction approved the largest volume of financing for the renewable energy sector in the region in 2022-2024 ($1.4 billion, or 47%), followed by the International Finance Corporation ($426 million, or 14%), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ($385 million, or 13%). The recipient countries of these investments were Uzbekistan ($1.8 billion), Azerbaijan ($675 million), and Kazakhstan ($280 million).

The volume of co-financed projects in 2022-2024 amounted to $2.4 billion, with the IFC contributing $807 million, the Asian Development Bank $512 million, the EBRD $441 million, and the AIIB $355 million. 

Co-financing was particularly present in the renewable energy sector of Uzbekistan ($1 billion), Azerbaijan ($326 million) and Kazakhstan ($90 million), as well as in the financial sector of Mongolia ($310 million) and Uzbekistan ($161 million). 

One of the largest co-financing projects in the 2022-2024 period was the AIIB loan, which the bank approved in 2024 for $170 million to finance the development, construction, operation, and maintenance of Banka and Bilasuvar solar power plants in Azerbaijan. The total project cost is $670 million. Other financial institutions, including the EBRD, co-financed the project.

By Khagan Isayev