ADB Deputy Director General for South Asia Cindy Malvicini and Finance Minister Mohamed Shafeeq signed the agreements at the Ministry of Finance for the Accelerating Sustainable System Development Using Renewable Energy (ASSURE) Project. Climate Change, Environment, and Energy Minister Thoriq Ibrahim and Japan’s Ambassador to Maldives Midori Takeuchi participated in the ceremony.
ADB’s support consists of $41.5 million from the Asian Development Fund which provides grants to ADB’s most vulnerable developing member countries, an $8.5 million concessional loan from ordinary capital resources, and a $500,000 grant from the Climate Change Fund. This package will be supplemented with a $48 million cofinancing from the Asia-Pacific Climate Finance Fund, Clean Technology Fund, Japan Fund for the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JFJCM), and investments from the private sector, as well as a $1.97 million counterpart financing from the government.
The ASSURE project will install grid-scale energy storage, energy management systems, and distribution grid upgrades in 20 outer islands, to attract private sector investments to establish solar photovoltaic facilities in these areas. Emerging technologies, such as ocean-based floating solar panels, ocean energy devices, small wind turbines, and flow batteries, will be installed. ADB will also provide support through transaction advisory in developing public–private partnerships for solar independent power producer projects.
The project will also strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, and Technology, as well as other related agencies. This includes enhancing skills in financial management and design and implementation of emerging renewable energy systems and technologies.