Pan African financier, Trade and Development Bank (TDB), plans to fund green energy projects in east Africa, officials said on Tuesday.
Michael Awori, executive of lending operations at TDB told Xinhua in Nairobi that his organization has received lines of credit from a number of institutions including Export-Import Bank of China for onward lending to support various green projects in East Africa.
“We are looking to finance renewable energy projects so as to increase our energy portfolio with a heavy focus on geothermal, solar, wind and hydropower,” Awori said during the Kenya roadshow for the upcoming second edition of the Africa Investment Forum.
TDB said that it is currently in talks to provide debt finance to two independent power producers who have been contracted by Kenya’s Geothermal Development Company to develop a total of two 35mw geothermal power plants as part of the Menegai geothermal power plant project.
Awori said that Kenya and Ethiopia have significant geothermal resources which are largely untapped.
“It makes sense to finance development of geothermal power because it is a cost-effective source of power and also because it helps to reduce emission of green-house gases,” he said.
