The multilateral development bank set up by the BRICS countries has approved its first two loans in China, supporting solar and wind power projects.

The first loan from the New Development Bank (NDB) involving a deal in China was signed in late December. This was a 525 million renminbi (US$75 million) sovereign loan, with the proceeds to be used for the Shanghai Lingang Distributed Solar Power Project. It will have a total capacity of 100MW and will be built on rooftops in the Lingang Industrial Area in Shanghai.

A second China deal has already received approval at a board meeting in Shanghai in late November. This is a two billion renminbi sovereign loan for the construction of the second phase of the Pinghai Bay offshore wind power project, in Putian, Fujian Province.

The project will eventually have a total capacity of 700MW. The first 50MW phase went into operation in July 2016. Phase two is expected to total 250MW. The project owner is Fujian Zhongmin Offshore Wind Power Co.

Also in late November the NDB approved a $350 million sovereign loan to India for the Madhya Pradesh Major District Roads Project, which involves the upgrade of 1,500km of roads.

The NDB is headquartered in Shanghai. The first Board of Governors meeting was held in Moscow in July 2015, when the bank formally came into existence as a legal entity.

The bank will support projects in the five founding countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, as well as other emerging economies. At the eighth BRICS Summit, held in Goa in October 2016, the bank said that it has a target to lend a total of $2.5 billion in 2017.

In July 2016 the NDB made a three billion renminbi offering of green bonds on the domestic interbank market. It is looking at issuing bonds in South African rand, Russian rubles and Indian rupees.