PROJECTS: EBRD to approve loan for ACWA Power’s largest solar power project in Egypt
$54 million package comprises of senior debt and equity bridge loan
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is expected to approve in December loans worth $54 million to finance the construction and development of Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power’s 200-megawatt (MW) Kom Ombo solar power project in Egypt.
ACWA Power had signed the Power Purchase Agreement for the project with Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) in October 2019.
The loans comprise senior debt financing of up to $40 million, co-financed with other parties, and an equity bridge loan of up to $14 million, EBRD said in a Project Summary Document (PSD) disclosure on Wednesday.
Following the completion of the loans’ structure review and pending final review, 2nd December has been set as the approval date, according to the PSD statement.
With a total estimated project cost of $41.7 million, Kom Ombo solar photovoltaic (PV) power project will be one of the largest privately developed utility scale solar plants in Egypt, the statement noted.
In a PSD disclosure in September, EBRD has estimated the project cost at $155.4 million.
ACWA Power had announced in October 2019 that the project’s construction would be completed in the first quarter of 2021. In November 2019, UK-based project news portal IJ Global had reported that ACWA Power and the EETC had settled on a tariff of $0.0248 per kWh for the project.
ACWA Power’s renewable energy portfolio in Egypt includes the 120 MW Benban PV Independent Power Producer (IPP) project in Egypt’s Aswan province.
Source : zawya
