| Project Detail |
Project Development Objective
PDO Statement
26. To increase the amount of electricity generated in Afghanistan and to leverage private financing for
the country’s energy sector.
PDO Level Indicators
27. The key results indicators will be:
a. Generation capacity of the plant constructed under the proposed Project (MW); and
b. Private sector capital mobilized (USD).
Project Components
28. The proposed Project comprises the development, financing, design, construction and operation
of a 40MW green-field gas-to-power plant as an IPP on a Build-Own-Operate basis. It will be implemented
by Bayat Power Electricity Services Distributor Company (“Project Company”), a Special Purpose Company
established by Bayat Group. The Project Company is 100 per cent owned by Unique Market Holdings Ltd., a
British Virgin Island12 registered company. The latter is 100 per cent owned by Bayat Energy Group LLC, a
Delaware registered company, whose ultimate owner is Dr. Ehsanollah Bayat. As a whole, the Bayat Group
has been operating in Afghanistan for 17 years, and owns and operates several enterprises in Afghanistan,
primarily in the telecommunications and media sector, but it has also engaged in oil and gas exploration, and
production. The corporate structure is further detailed in Figure 5 of this document.
29. The power plant under the proposed Project will be located 20 km east of Sheberghan, and
approximately 1 km west of the amine treatment plant (operated by Afghan Gas Enterprise (AGE)) at the
Yatimtaq gas field in northwestern Afghanistan. The specific plot of land, on which the project site is
situated, is Government owned, and has been leased to the Project Company under a lease agreement signed
on 31 July 2018, coterminous with the initial term of the PPA (i.e., five years after the plant’s commercial
operations date). Due to its location, the power plant will supply power to Jawzjan (Sheberghan is its center),
Faryarb, Sar-i-pul and other parts of the provinces in the Balkh region. It is consistent with the 2013 Power
Sector Master Plan, which identifies this as the least cost option for increased domestic energy generation
(up to 150 MW of installed capacity by means of gas-fired power plants). The Project Company has entered
into a five-year take-or-pay PPA with DABS, under which it will sell electricity at a fixed (non-indexed) tariff
of US cents 7.5/kWh. This is slightly higher compared to the average cost of imported electricity, which ranges
from US cents 5.5/kWh to US cents 6.5/kWh over a five-year period due to indexation, but is lower compared
to the recently closed Kandahar Solar Project, which has a tariff of US cents 8.5/kWh.
30. The proposed Project will consist of one 40MW mobile gas turbine generator designed to burn
natural gas. The balance of the plant will include a gas distribution and filtration system. The Project company
has selected Siemens to supply this gas turbine. The respective generation units were shipped from Houston
and arrived on site in Sheberghan in early July 2019 and were installed in early September 2019. The Project
Company has identified a contractor that will undertake the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the power
plant (see more details under Implementation Arrangements below). |
