The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has relaxed conditions for renewable energy solution providers under its Refinance Scheme for Renewable Energy.
According to the statement issued by the state bank all Renewable Energy Investment Entities (RE-IEs) interested in installing renewable energy projects/solutions are allowed to avail refinance under category III of the scheme.
The central bank has revised the SBP Finance Scheme for Renewable Energy in July 2019 to help address the challenges of energy shortages and climate change. A Shariah complaint version of the scheme had also been launched in August 2019.
The scheme comprises of three categories. Under the first category, financing is extended for setting up renewable energy power projects of one to 50-megawatt capacity for own use or selling electricity to the national grid or a combination of both.
Under the second classification, assistance is allowed to domestic, agriculture, commercial and industrial borrowers for the installation of renewable energy-based projects/ solutions of up to 1MW to generate electricity for own use or selling it to the grid/ distribution company under the net metering mechanism.
Under category-III, financing is granted to vendors/ suppliers/ energy sale companies for the installation of wind and solar systems/ solutions of up to 5MW. After taking into account the opinions of stakeholders the requirement of AEDB certification has been relaxed for RE-IEs who do not undertake installations on their own but hire services of installers/vendors for installation of RE projects/solutions
