China Eximbank provides $312.8 million preferential buyer’s credit for 400MW Lukoml Power Plant Construction Project (Linked to Project ID#42199, #42214 and #66983)

On December 22, 2010, China Eximbank and the Government of Belarus signed a $312.8 million preferential buyer’s credit (PBC) agreement [CHINA EXIMBANK No. PBC (2010) 32 (139)] for the 400MW Lukoml Power Plant Construction Project. The PBC, which was funded through a $5.7 billion framework agreement (captured in Project ID#42199) and partially fulfilled a $1 billion pledge from March 2010 (captured in Project ID#42214), carried the following terms: a 15 year maturity, a 5 year grace period, and a 3% annual interest rate. The Government of Belarus on-lent the proceeds of the PBC to a state-owned energy company called RUE Vitebskenergo. RUE Vitebskenergo then used the proceeds of the PBC to finance 85% of the cost of a commercial contract [№ Витебскэнерго-СМЕС-001] that it signed with China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) on September 21, 2010. The purpose of this project was to install a 400MW combined cycle gas turbine at the Lukoml Power Plant in the town of Novolukoml. Upon completion, it was expected that the plant would save 242,000 tons of oil equivalent per year. The new installation was designed to burn natural gas and achieve a performance factor of 57%, whereas the performance factor of conventional the units of the power plant stood at 39.4%. Combined cycle gas turbines also use less water per unit of electricity and are more environmentally friendly. CMEC was the EPC contractor responsible for implementation. Construction began on January 18, 2012 and the power plant was handed over to the local authorities on June 4, 2014. The plant ended its warranty period and was successfully transferred to the owner on May 12, 2016.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Lukomlskaya SDPP Project. The Chinese project title is 卢克木里电站项 or 白俄罗斯卢克木里电站项目. The Russian project title is Лукомльская ГРЭС or «Строительство ПГУ-400 МВт на Лукомльской ГРЭС». 2. The China Eximbank loan that supported the 400MW Lukoml Power Plant Construction Project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset published by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center in December 2020. 3. The China Eximbank loan agreements for the 400MW Lukoml Power Plant Construction Project (captured via Project ID#66982) and the 427MW Bereza Combined Cycle Power Plant Reconstruction Project (captured via Project ID#66983) were signed on the same day and multiple sources refer to the sum total of the two loan amounts ($634,100,000) rather than their individual amounts ($321,300,000 and $312,800,000, respectively).

Number of official sources

14

Number of total sources

19