The directors of the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) have approved an investment total of $288 million for two wind projects in Pakistan and Peru respectively.
The Sapphire Wind Power plant, located in the Ghoro-Keti Bandar Wind Corridor in the south east of Pakistan, will benefit from a $95 million credit facility enabling it to generate around 133 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity annually. The project uses wind turbines made by General Electric and is part of a mutual US-Pakistan strategy to diversify the country’s power generation beyond reliance on high-priced fuel oil. A recent study funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the US Agency for International Development, estimates that Pakistan could benefit from 132,000MW of potential installed wind capacity, almost equal to the entire global installed wind capacity for 2010.
Meanwhile, in Peru, an OPIC loan of $193 million will support a 114MW wind power project which is the first large-scale wind installation to be linked to the Peruvian power grid. It consists of two wind parks on Peru’s Northwestern Pacific coast with a total of 62 wind turbines overall. The plant has been sponsored by ContourGlobal, an international power generation company based in New York with approximately 3000MW of capacity deployed in 15 countries around the world. OPIC has already partnered with the company on projects in Nigeria, Togo and eastern Europe.
“The provision of clean and reliable electricity is an essential building block of any economy,” said OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth L. Littlefield. “The Board today affirmed OPIC’s commitment to support efforts by Pakistan and Peru to diversify their energy production to include important contributions from renewable energy sources. The wind power projects will enable both countries to take advantage of their massive renewable energy potential to help meet unmet demand for electricity.”
OPIC was established as an agency of the US government in 1971 and is totally self-sustaining with no cost to the American tax payer. It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges around the world and works with the US private sector thereby helping US businesses to establish a presence in emerging markets abroad.
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