IFC and Green Climate Fund to partner on Green Hydrogen investment

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) and IFC are collaborating on a proposed investment that will increase the resilience of the energy grid in Barbados, particularly during extreme rains, tropical storms, or hurricanes.

At its board meeting, GCF approved the provision of up to $41 million in blended concessional financing to support IFC's proposed investment in RenewStable Barbados, a 50 MW solar generation facility with green hydrogen and lithium-ion battery storage that will provide clean and stable electricity to the Barbadian grid.

RenewStable Barbados will represent the first time GCF is supporting an IFC investment through the provision of concessional financing, the first green hydrogen project for IFC, and the first green hydrogen project in the Latin America and Caribbean region. The project is expected to have a significant impact on GHG emissions mitigation (avoiding 693,000 tCO2 emissions over the lifetime of the project) while reducing the country's dependence on expensive fuel imports.

The government of Barbados has set ambitious decarbonization targets for 2030, including a target of achieving a 100 percent renewable energy matrix. The proposed project will use intermittent solar photovoltaic generation and combine it with short-term battery storage and long-term green hydrogen storage to provide a clean generation facility that can be dispatched 24 hours a day.

IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2023, IFC committed a record $43.7 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity as economies grapple with the impacts of global compounding crises.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the world's largest dedicated climate fund. GCF's mandate is to foster a paradigm shift towards low emission, climate-resilient development pathways in developing countries.

It also has a readiness support programme that builds capacity and helps countries develop long-term plans to fight climate change. GCF is an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and serves the 2015 Paris Agreement, supporting the goal of keeping average global temperature rise well below 2°C.

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