Egypt’s Solar Power Gets $102M Support from World Bank Agency

The Egyptian government is moving forward on a mega project that involves private sector companies building solar and wind plants under a FiT scheme.

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group has announced a guarantee of $102.6 million for the construction of six power plants in Egypt.

The power plants will collectively have a combined capacity of up to 250MW, and represent the first set of a total of 12 projects approved by MIGA’s board in support of the country’s Solar Feed-in Tariff (FiT) programme, MIGA said in a statement.

The statement explained that the guarantees are being provided against the risks of expropriation, transfer restriction and inconvertibility, breach of contract, and war and civil disturbance, it stated.

“Significant investments are needed in Egypt to meet growing demand for power, and diversify the country’s energy mix,” MIGA Executive Vice President and CEO Keiko Honda said.

The Egyptian government is moving forward on a mega project that involves private sector companies building solar and wind plants under a FiT scheme.

The plan set by Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker eyes generating 20 percent of Egypt’s energy supply from renewable energy resources by 2022.

In October, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, completed a $653 million debt package to finance building 13 solar power plants near Aswan.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) also approved financing a total of 16 solar projects in Egypt at a total capacity of 750 megawatts with $500 million under the same scheme.