British International Investment

Atlas Solar Limited

South AsiaInfrastructure

Zhenfa Pakistan New Energy Company (Private) Limited specialises in investing, developing and commissioning solar power projects in Pakistan.

This investment was made when British International Investment was named CDC Group.

Our investment

Description of the investment.

Our investment will finance the addition of 100MW solar power capacity, which is expected to avoid 106,000 tonnes of annual greenhouse gas emissions, and provide electricity to meet the equivalent demand of 114,000 residential consumers.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact
  • Avoid greenhouse gas emissions to support climate change mitigation (SDG 13A)
  • Improve access to affordable, reliable and clean electricity (SDGs 7.1, 7.2)

How?

How?
  • Direct: Finance the addition of 100MW of solar energy generation capacity to avoid greenhouse gas emissions through the displacement of thermal generation.
  • Economic enabler: Finance the addition of 100MW of solar energy generation capacity to increase the supply of electricity to households, improving quality of life for residential consumers.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Planet

Global

N/A

Consumers

Urban and peri-urban households. Households on average pay 7-8 cents/kilowatt hour, with energy and lighting representing 6.7-7.8 per cent of total household expenditure

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration

Provide electricity to meet the equivalent demand of more than 113,000 residential consumers.

Avoid annual emissions of 106,150 tonnes of greenhouse gases for 25 years.

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality
  • Financial additionality: We will provide long-term US dollar debt financing, which is not available from commercial sources in Pakistan.
  • Value additionality: We ve provided environmental and social capacity-building support which is expected to mitigate negative impact.
  • Mobilisation: Our commitment will enable HBL to participate in the transaction as a local currency lender

Grid score

Grid Score

To help us direct our investments, we previously used a tool called the Development Impact Grid. It scored investments out of four, based on two factors: the difficulty of investing in a country and the propensity of the sector to generate employment. This tool was used for investments until the end of 2021. Since 2022 it has been replaced by the Impact Score.

4.0

Risk

External Risk
  • Relates to curtailment risk due to low demand growth in the Pakistani power sector, which would hinder the project’s ability to deliver impact. Considered low based on power sector study findings which projects dispatch is robust to most demand growth scenarios.
External Risk
  • To maximise the full impact potential of the projects, simultaneous progress is required to reduce transmission and distribution technical (20 per cent) and commercial (11 per cent) losses in the national grid system. This risk will need to be tolerated.

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to [email protected] or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at [email protected]

  • Key facts

    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.

    :
    June 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.

    :
    D4378
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).

    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.

    :
    South Asia
    Country

    The countries where the investment delivers impact. Where impact is delivered in multiple countries, this is indicated.

    :
    Pakistan
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Infrastructure

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.

    Investment type :
    Debt
    Start date :
    February 2021
    Amount :
    $28m
    Currency of investment :
    USD
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.

    :
    Pakistan
    Climate finance

    Indicates whether the investment is climate finance qualified or partially climate finance qualified and the type of climate finance (adaptation, mitigation or both). We define climate finance using the multilateral development bank (MDB) and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC) Common Principles climate finance methodology. See Common Principles for Climate Mitigation Finance Tracking and Common Principles for Climate Change Adaptation Finance Tracking. We provide the climate finance qualification and type for commitments from 2020 onwards, which is when we launched our Climate Change Strategy.

    :
    Fully qualified
    Climate finance type:
    Mitigation

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