The Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK) has put two more yuan loans into power projects this year. Both are priced off the same benchmark, yet one carries almost twice the margin of the other. A 75 MW combined-cycle gas plant in Zhezkazgan is getting CNY 788.9 million at China's five-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) plus 2.15 percentage points. A 70 MW cluster of solar plants in Kyzylorda Region is getting CNY 104.1 million at LPR plus 4.16 points. With the five-year LPR set at 3.50% on October 20, that works out to roughly 5.65% and 7.66% today.
Zhezkazgan: CNY 788.9 million, funded by China Development Bank
The Zhezkazgan borrower is Kazakhmys Energy LLP. DBK said on June 16 that the two sides had signed a credit line agreement for CNY 788.9 million to cover equipment, construction and commissioning. The bank's project card puts total cost at CNY 1 billion, with a tenor of up to 10 years, a floating rate, and the bank's borrowed funds as the source.
DBK has also said where that money comes from. On July 17 it announced that, during a visit to Shanghai, it had signed a sub-loan agreement with China Development Bank (CDB) under a general loan agreement, with the proceeds earmarked for the Zhezkazgan plant.
The unit is going up on the site of the existing Zhezkazgan combined heat and power plant and will burn gas from the Saryarka pipeline; a groundbreaking ceremony has already been held. According to DBK, the equipment comes from Siemens Energy AB and Harbin Electric International, commissioning is planned by the end of 2027, and at full capacity the plant should generate about 502 million kWh a year and employ 76 people. It is meant to ease the shortage of energy and flexible capacity in the Northern power zone and supply industrial users in the region.
Kyzylorda: CNY 104.1 million for three solar plants
The solar borrower is VIGOR Holding LLP. DBK's project card lists total cost at CNY 148.9 million, of which the bank provides CNY 104.1 million, or about 70%, for up to 15 years at five-year LPR plus 4.16 points, floating. Kursiv converted the amounts at about KZT 9.46 billion for the project and KZT 6.61 billion for the loan.
On October 1, DBK's press service told Kazinform the loan had been extended under a credit line for construction and for buying and installing equipment. The cluster is being built in stages: first the 20 MW Shieli-1 plant, then the 20 MW Shieli-2 with an energy storage system, and finally the 30 MW Zhanakorgan plant. Once complete it should produce about 115.5 million kWh a year.
Four yuan loans side by side
Counting two deals the platform covered earlier, DBK has now disclosed four long-term yuan project loans this year, all tied to the five-year LPR:
Altyn Dala Energy solar, phase one (245 MW): up to CNY 814 million, 15 years, LPR + 1.57 points, about 5.07%;
Zhezkazgan combined-cycle plant (75 MW): CNY 788.9 million, 10 years, LPR + 2.15 points, about 5.65%;
Zhuzimdik wind farm (150 MW), yuan sub-limit: up to CNY 547.7 million, 15 years, indicative LPR + 2.16 points, about 5.66%;
VIGOR Holding solar (70 MW): CNY 104.1 million, 15 years, LPR + 4.16 points, about 7.66%.
Rules related to this news
The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive is 2.59 points, and the smallest loan carries the highest margin.
What follows is our reading, not the bank's. DBK has not explained how it set the margins. Public information shows that Samruk-Energy holds a stake in Altyn Dala and that its two plants serve large offtakers, Kazatomprom and the grid operator KEGOC. The Zhezkazgan unit sits on an existing CHP plant owned by a large industrial group. VIGOR is a much smaller private project, and its higher margin likely reflects the bank's view of risk tied to project size and offtake terms.
Even 7.66% is far cheaper than tenge money. The tenge sub-limit on the Zhuzimdik wind loan carries an indicative fixed rate of 19.24%. The trade-off is that a yuan borrower carries the tenge-yuan currency risk itself, and the rate resets with the LPR every month.
What it means for Chinese companies
First, yuan lending has become a routine DBK tool in the power sector, used for solar, wind and gas. When a project is funded in yuan, equipment bought in China can be paid for without an extra currency conversion.
Second, the Zhezkazgan deal links CDB money, Harbin Electric equipment and Kazakhstan's development bank in one chain. Our assumption is that this pattern of Chinese funds on-lent through DBK could recur in other projects that need Chinese equipment.
Third, the suppliers of panels, inverters and storage for the VIGOR cluster, and its EPC contractor, have not been named. Tariffs and power purchase agreements for the three plants are not public either, and they will decide how comfortably a 15-year loan gets repaid.
(The cover image is AI-generated and for illustration only.)
Sources:
Development Bank of Kazakhstan, Zhezkazgan combined-cycle plant project card, https://www.kdb.kz/en/ajax/project.php?LANG=EN_&PROJECT_ID=15580
Development Bank of Kazakhstan, Kyzylorda 70 MW solar project card, https://www.kdb.kz/en/ajax/project.php?LANG=EN_&PROJECT_ID=15581
Development Bank of Kazakhstan, press release, June 16, 2026, https://www.kdb.kz/pc/news/press-releases/15471/
Development Bank of Kazakhstan, press release, July 17, 2026, https://www.kdb.kz/pc/news/press-releases/15513/
Tengrinews, https://tengrinews.kz/kazakhstan_news/brk-ukreplyaet-pozitsii-ryinke-kapitala-kitaya-rasshiryaet-604114/
Kazinform, https://qazinform.com/news/development-bank-of-kazakhstan-backs-park-of-solar-power-plants-in-kyzylorda-region-c6c956
Kursiv, https://kz.kursiv.media/2026-09-11/kaye-kto-poluchil-pochti-7-mlrd-tengge-ot-brk-na-solnechnyi-park-sled-vedet-k-strukturam-vladimira-kima/
Zhezkazganskiy Vestnik, https://news20.kz/news/2210-na-zhezkazganskoi-tec-dan-start-stroitelstvu-pgu.html
Podrobnosty.kz, https://www.podrobnosty.kz/rubriki/ekonomika/1086-ekologizatsiya-proizvodstva.html
Xinhua, https://www.news.cn/fortune/20261020/c5ceb4f5be3b4924845a929da482a717/c.html