OFID supports power generation in Armenia via US$25m loan

Vienna, Austria, March 4, 2019. OFID – the OPEC Fund for International Development – has signed a loan of more than US$25m with ArmPower to help expand and diversify power generation sources developed by the private sector in Armenia. ArmPower is a special purpose company owned by Renco Power (owned by Italian Renco Spa and Simest Spa) and Siemens Project Ventures (part of German Siemens Financial Services).

OFID’s assistance will help finance a 250-megawatt gas-fired combined-cycle cogeneration power plant with annual production of up to 2,000 gigawatt hours. The facility will be Armenia’s first greenfield project-financed power plant. It will also create local employment during the construction and operation of the power plant while boosting sector efficiency and reliability. 

“OFID provides loans to companies for projects with development aims that are well defined, such as to improve energy access and security in line with Sustainable Development Goal 7,” said OFID Director-General Dr Abdulhamid Alkhalifa. “We are pleased to be working with our partners on a transaction that supports the energy strategy of the government of Armenia, and that illustrates how the private sector can help to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.” 

This transaction sees OFID partner with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the lead arranger of the financing package, and its syndications platform known as the Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program, as well as with the Asian Development Bank and the German development finance institution Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG).

About OFID
OFID is the development finance institution established by the Member States of OPEC in 1976 as a channel of aid to the developing countries. OFID works in cooperation with developing country partners and the international donor community to stimulate economic growth and alleviate poverty in all disadvantaged regions of the world. It does this by providing financing to build essential infrastructure, strengthen social services and promote productivity, competitiveness and trade. OFID’s work is people-centered, focusing on projects that meet basic needs – such as food, energy, clean water and sanitation, healthcare and education – with the aim of encouraging self-reliance and inspiring hope for the future.