U.K. Green Bank Agrees $298 Million of Lending to Africa, India

(Bloomberg) — The U.K.’s Green Investment Bank and
Department of Energy and Climate Change agreed on a 200 million
pound ($298 million) pilot program to invest in low-carbon
projects in Africa and India.

The money will be channeled into clean-power plants and
projects that cut energy waste in East Africa, South Africa and
India, the Edinburgh-based bank said in a statement on its
website. It aims to lure private capital into the projects.

“This important new pilot program will see GIB investing
outside the U.K. for the first time,” said Shaun Kingsbury,
chief executive officer of the GIB. “I’m confident that our
unique business model, tried and tested in the U.K., will have a
very positive effect in developing countries, helping them to
build vital new green energy infrastructure.”

The bank said in June it may lend money to projects in
emerging markets to fight climate change. The money is in
addition to the 3.8 billion-pound pot of funding for U.K.
projects. The GIB will now begin finalizing the details and
sourcing investment opportunities, it said in the statement.

The bank this week also said it’s investing in a 111
million-pound facility in Scotland that will turn waste into
power. It invested 28.25 million pounds in the plant through a
fund managed by Foresight Group LLP, in which it’s an investor.
Zouk Capital LLP and Levenseat Ltd. are also investors.

The 12.3-megawatt project will prevent 1.4 million tons of
waste from being buried each year, instead using it to generate
enough power for about 18,000 homes, the bank said on its
website. The plant will use waste from a materials-recycling
facility being built adjacent to the energy-from-waste project.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Louise Downing in London at
ldowning4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Tony Barrett, Carlos Caminada

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