China Development Bank Award Sky Solar $1.6bn Credit Facility

Sky Solar, a Chinese developer and investor in PV power plants, has been awarded a 10bn yuan ($1.6bn) credit facility from China Development Bank (CDB) to finance its growing pipeline of projects.

Under the agreement, which runs until 2016, Sky Solar will have access to a range of CDB products and services including equity, debt, loans, leasing, bonds and securities. CDB will also provide priority financing support for Sky Solar’s development and construction of projects in global markets.

The Shanghai-based company says it has worked with CDB on project financing for the past two years, but the credit facility is one of the first to be awarded by a state bank to an independent solar power developer.Chief executive Amy Zhang says the move reflects China’s need to support the growth of end-markets for its solar equipment makers.

“Investing in the upstream only creates production, while investing in the downstream increases demand for production and creates highly feasible and stable assets,” she says. “By supporting downstream developers and operators, CDB helps to establish new international and domestic markets for PV manufacturers currently facing huge pressure due to the current over-supply situation.”

Zhang adds that through the agreement, both the bank and developer will support China-based PV manufacturers.Sky Solar invested in and constructed nearly 120MW of solar plants in 2011, mostly in Germany, Canada, Bulgaria and Greece.

It is scheduled to connect its first MW-scale projects in Japan to the grid by the end of the year and is also investing heavily in China, recently breaking ground on a 50MW project in Qinghai province.