Saudi Arabia’s renewables developer ACWA Power has secured a financial package of $123 million to develop 200MW Kom Ombo utility-scale solar power plant in Egypt.
Financing institutions for the solar project of ACWA Power include EBRD, OPEC Fund OPEC Fund, African Development Bank (AfDB), Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), GCF, APICORP and Arab Bank.
ACWA Power said that the package comprises loans of up to $36 million from the EBRD, $14.6 million from OPEC Fund, $14.4 million from AfDB, $34.5 million from GCF, $14.8 million from Arab Bank and $10 million from the SEFA. The loan is being given under the COVID-19 IPP relief programme.
ACWA Power held that the solar project already has equity bridge loans of $14 million from the EBRD and $45 million from APICORP.
Marco Arcelli, CEO of ACWA Power, said, “The Kom Ombo solar project further demonstrates the private sector’s active involvement in Egypt’s energy transition. This accomplishment highlights the shared vision and purpose of various global financing institutions in achieving the Republic’s targets, which would not be possible without the trust and support of the government, the Egyptian people, and communities.”
ACWA Power will commercially operationalise the Kom Ombo solar plant in January 2024. Once fully functional, the new utility-scale plant will serve 130,000 households.
“Kom Ombo Solar is also our first collaboration with EBRD, and OPEC Fund in Egypt and we look forward to many more successful partnerships as we seek to enhance more co-financing opportunities across the continent,” said, Kevin Kariuki, The African Development Bank’s Vice President.
As per ACWA Power, private-sector participation in the Kom Ombo project is the result of successful policy dialogue with the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC). The solar project has also benefitted from broader energy-sector reforms supported by the AfDB in recent years to scale up the involvement of the private sector.
“ The Kom Ombo project is the first tendered utility-scale solar project in Egypt, and one of the first to be delivered under the Energy Pillar of the Nexus Water-Food-Energy (NWFE) initiative, whereby the Egyptian authorities are committed to developing 10 GW of new renewable energy projects and decommissioning 5 GW of thermal capacity,” said, Nandita Parshad, MD – Sustainable Finance Group, EBRD.
Egypt is targeting to generate 42% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2035 while delivering one of the lowest generation tariffs in Africa.
