ASTANA (ADB press service) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed loan agreements for loans equivalent to $80 mln in Kazakh tenge with Samruk-Energy, Kazakhstan’s largest power generation company, to help increase its balance sheet flexibility by reducing foreign exchange risk, enhance its operational efficiency, and identify a renewable energy pipeline for the company.

To help modernize Kazakhstan’s electricity sector where about 70% of installed capacity is considered technically obsolete, Samruk-Energy adopted in 2015 a 10-year long-term development strategy to expand operations, lift renewable energy sources from 100 MW to 850 MW by 2025, and double shareholder value. However, falling global oil prices negatively affected the tenge, Kazakhstan’s currency, which affected Samruk-Energy’s plans due to the company’s foreign currency exposure.

Samruk-Energy, established in April 2007, is an important entity in Kazakhstan’s energy sector, with its generation assets classified by the government as power plants of national importance. As of 2016, total installed capacity of the company’s power plants was 6.8 GW, representing 31% of the country’s total installed capacity.