PROJECTS: Egypt’s largest solar plant receives $114mln financing package

PROJECTS: Egypt’s largest solar plant receives $114mln financing package

Egypt's largest independent solar power project, the 200-megawatt (MW) Kom Ombo photovoltaic (PV) power plant, has received a $114 million financing package from a group of international development financial institutions and banks on the heels of the signing the final project agreements in early April. The project will be located less than 20 kilometres from Africa's biggest solar park, the 1.8-gigawatt Benban complex.  The package comprises loans of up to $36 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); $18 million from the OPEC Fund for International Development (The OPEC Fund); $17.8 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB); $23.8 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF)  and $18 million from Arab Bank, a press statement from the OPEC Fund said.  This is in addition to equity bridge loans of up to $14 million from EBRD and $33.5 million from Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), the statement issued on Thursday said. Egypt's first solar photovoltaic (PV) tender was won by Saudi power and water developer ACWA Power, which submitted the lowest tariff for the project. EBRD President Odile Renaud Basso said the project marked the EBRD's first co-financing project with the AfDB and the OPEC Fund in Egypt with the London-headquartered bank looking forward to future