AfDB approves US $55-million (including US$ 7 million from GEF) loan for three Solar PV Projects in Egypt

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has approved three senior loans for a total amount of US$ 55 million to finance three solar PV Projects under the second Round of the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) Program in Egypt.

Alcazar Energy Egypt Solar 1 (Alcazar I), Delta for Renewable Energy (Delta) and Shapoorji Pallonji Energy Egypt (SP), are the three Independent Power Producers benefiting from the loans for a tenor of eighteen years. Alcazar I and Delta will be extended a loan of US$ 18 million each. The US$ 19 million loan to SPEE also includes a US$7-million concessional financing from the Global Environment Fund (GEF). 

The three projects have a total installed capacity of 150MW are being developed by two sponsors, Alcazar Energy Partners (2x50MW) and Shapoorji Pallonji (50MW). All three projects are located at the same site, on unoccupied desert land in Benban, 40 km north of Aswan. With a financial close expected by 28 October 2017, the plants shall be operational by the end of 2018.

The GEF financing is mobilized within the framework of the "AfDB-PPP Public-Private Partnership Program," which was approved by the GEF for implementation by the AfDB to promote the scaling up of renewable energy technologies and contribute to the delivery of universal power supply in Africa. 

Egypt has developed an overarching regulatory framework for the development of renewable energy capacity with the aim of securing 20% of its energy generation from renewable sources by 2022. In September 2014, Egypt launched a FiT Program for a total of 4,300MW including 2,300MW of solar PV.

As we reported in lat August, EBRD and Proparco together provided US$116 million of financing for the construction and operation of two 50 MW solar photovoltaic power plants in Egypt.  These were the first two projects to be financed under the second round of Egypt's ambitious feed-in tariff scheme for renewable and will be part of the planned 1.8 GW Benban solar complex in Aswan province, in the southern area of Upper Egypt.