The African Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved US$27.2 million in loan financing for the design, construction, and 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 electricity costs for businesses and residences, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating construction and other jobs.
The project’s total cost is estimated at US$156.4 million. In addition to the Bank’s financing, structured as a senior loan, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Arab Bank, and the OPEC Fund for International Development will contribute funding. The plant, 800 km south of Cairo, is owned by ACWA Power, a leading Saudi Arabian developer, investor, and operator of power generation and desalinated water plants worldwide.
Egypt is one of the founding members of the African Development Bank Group. Since starting lending operations in 1974, the Bank Group has financed over 100 operations in Egypt across several sectors.
