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AfrElec RENEWABLES AfrElec

Egypt’s Kom Ombo solar plant receives

$114mn financing package

EGYPT THE EBRD, the OPEC Fund for International in administering competitive renewable energy
Development, the African Development Bank tenders.
(AfDB), the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and In addition, the project has also benefited
Arab Bank have signed a $114mn financing from broader energy-sector reforms supported
package with ACWA Power to build the largest by the AfDB in recent years to scale up the
private solar plant in Egypt. involvement of the private sector.
The development of the Kom Ombo solar AfDB vice-president in charge of Power,
plant will add 200 MW of energy capacity, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth
increasing the share of renewable energy in Kevin Kariuki said: “The Kom Ombo solar
Egypt’s energy mix and further promoting pri- project is a truly remarkable transaction. It not
vate sector participation in the Egyptian power only clearly demonstrates the indisputable com-
sector. petitiveness of solar PV vis-à-vis conventional
The package comprises loans of up to $36mn sources of generation, but it also directly contrib-
from the EBRD, $18mn from the OPEC Fund, utes towards the realisation of Egypt’s ambitious
$17.8mn from the AfDB, $23.8mn from the GCF renewable energy targets, in addition to being an
and $18mn from Arab Bank. excellent example of what stakeholders driven by
This is in addition to equity bridge loans of a shared objective can achieve.”
up to $14mn from EBRD and $33.5mn from The Kom Ombo plant will contribute to the
Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation Egyptian government’s target to generate 42% of
(APICORP). the country’s electricity from renewable energy
The new Kom Ombo plant will be located 20 sources by 2035 while delivering one of the low-
km from Africa’s biggest solar park, the 1.8-GW est generation tariffs on the continent.
Benban complex. Once operational, the new Kom Ombo PV is part of ACWA Power’s
utility-scale plant will serve 130,000 households. energy portfolio in Egypt, which currently
Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power submitted the includes three solar PV projects located in
lowest tariff in what was the first solar photovol- Aswan Province (Benban 1, Benban 2 and Ben-
taic (PV) tender in Egypt. ban 3) with an aggregate capacity of 120 MW, as
Private sector participation in the Kom well as the 2,250-MW Dairut-Luxor CCGT IPP
Ombo project is the result of successful policy in the Luxor Governorate.
dialogue with the Ministry of Electricity and Construction of the plant is expected to begin
Renewable Energy and the Egyptian Electricity in the third quarter of 2021 and upon comple-
Transmission Co. (EETC), as well as a $3.6mn tion, Kom Ombo PV will cater to the power
technical assistance programme, co-funded by needs of 130,000 households and offset 336,000
the EBRD and the GCF, to support the EETC tonnes per year (tpy) of carbon dioxide.™

Week 16 22•April•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11