AfDB Approves $27 Mn Loan to Establish 200 MW Solar Plant in Egypt

• The African Development Bank's Board of Directors today authorized $27.2 million in lending financing for the layout, building and construction and also operation of a 200 MW photovoltaic solar power plant at Kom Ombo, in Upper Egypt on the river Nile.

The project is expected to lower power prices for businesses and houses, as well as decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and also developing building and construction and also other jobs

The project's overall cost is estimated at $156.4 million. In addition to the Bank's funding, structured as an elderly financing, the European Bank for Reconstruction and also Development, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Arab Bank as well as the OPEC Fund for International Development will contribute funding. The plant, 800 kilometres south of Cairo, is owned by ACWA Power, a leading Saudi Arabian programmer, financier and operator of power generation and desalinated-water plants worldwide.

" We are delighted to sustain this project that will supply among the most affordable generation tolls on the continent," claimed Kevin Kariuki, the Bank's Vice President for, Power, Energy, Environment as well as Green Development. He added that "the project supports Egypt's energy shift and also contributes in the direction of the country's accomplishment of its targeted 20% share of renewables by 2022."

Egypt's economic situation has continued to grow throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and also its electrical energy needs are increasing at a typical yearly rate of 7%. By raising Egypt's set up power generation capability from sustainable resources, the plant is anticipated to lower greenhouse gas emissions greater than 7 million tCO2e equivalent over a 25-year duration. Throughout the construction stage, 800 jobs will be created.

Egypt's electrical energy grid is linked to those of next-door neighbors Libya and also Sudan, and also the plant has the possible to significantly contribute to energy trading and also electrical power access in the region.

The project straightens with Egypt's nationwide Integrated Sustainable Energy Approach and the Bank's New Deal on Energy for Africa, which aims to increase the share of renewable energy through cutting-edge funding in Africa's energy field. The project also developments the establishment's Brighten and Power Africa High-5 strategic concern.

The Bank's Deputy Supervisor General for North Africa, Malinne Blomberg stated that "the freshly authorized transaction is an extension of the Bank's long-standing partnership with the Government of Egypt and also its strong assistance for the nation's reform agenda." In addition to progressing the country's environment-friendly development, "the Kom Ombo project is likewise adding to the sustainability of an industry that is crucial for Egypt's competitiveness as well as industrial development. More right away, the healing from COVID-19 will certainly benefit from an effective and also sustainable energy industry," she included.

Egypt is one of the founding members of the African Development Bank Group. Since starting lending operations in 1974, the Bank Group has actually funded over 100 operations in Egypt throughout several fields.