Under the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) $500 million framework for renewable energy in Egypt, the EBRD is financing 16 new solar power plants with a capacity of 750 megawatts, making it the single largest investor in renewable energy in the country.
The plants are located at a solar site in Benban village in Upper Egypt, which, once completed, will be “the largest solar site in Africa,” with a capacity of 1.8 gigawatts, a statement released by the Bank read.
The new plants are expected to reduce Egypt’s carbon dioxide emissions by 900,000 tonnes per year.
In June, the EBRD approved the $500 million framework to finance renewable energy projects in Egypt under the government’s feed-in-tariff program. The program aims to encourage private investment in wind and solar power across the country.
“This is a major milestone in our support for renewable energy in Egypt. We have been working with the Egyptian authorities since 2014 to help them fulfill their ambitious goals in this area,” said Harry Boyd-Carpenter, head of Power and Energy at the EBRD.
To date, the EBRD has invested more than €3.7 billion directly in renewable energy, supporting 111 projects in 23 countries and funding more than 5.7 GW of capacity.
Earlier this week, a report by Bloomberg Climatescope said that Egypt was ranked second among countries having made most progress in the transition to renewable energy in the past year.
Assessing 71 counties in emerging clean energy markets, Egypt climbed 23 places, ranked 19 overall. This makes Egypt the second Arab nation after Jordan to rank in the top-20 list.
