TAQA Arabia gets EBRD financing for 7-MW solar project in Egypt

• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is giving USD 5.5 million (EUR 5.5 m) to the renewable resource subsidiary of Egyptian power business TAQA Arabia to construct as well as operate a 7-MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) project in El Minya, Egypt.

The solar installation will offer its generation to ASCOM Carbonate and also Chemical Manufacturing (ACCM), a manufacturer of ground calcium carbonate, under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

The new tranche of financing, announced by the EBRD on Tuesday, consists of a USD-4.95-million loan from the EBRD and a USD-550,000 concessional loan from the Global Environment Facility. It adheres to a USD-4.2-million loan to TAQA Arabia in 2020 for a 6-MWp PV nuclear power plant at Dina Farms, Africa's biggest dairy farm, in the Beheira governorate, which was the initial private-to-private renewable resource project backed by the EBRD in Egypt.

"Supporting the expanding private-to-private segment of renewable energy is important to increase the decarbonisation of the economy and foster green supply chains in Egypt and also throughout the African continent," claimed Nandita Parshad, taking care of director of the EBRD's Sustainable Infrastructure Group.

Egypt, which currently holds the COP27 worldwide climate summit, aims to increase the share of renewables generation to 42% by 2035 from 20% in 2022, the EBRD kept in mind.