Elsewedy, EDF France sign for $150M from EBRD for solar projects

CAIRO – 19 October 2017: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) granted a loan of $150 million on Wednesday to local electric energy company Elsewedy Electric and EDF France, to build two 100MW solar plants that were designed under the feed-in-tarriff (FiT) scheme.

In a statement to the Egyptian Exchange, stock market-listed Elsewedy said that it signed the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Ministry of Electricity in September; adding that investment in their 50MW solar plant is worth $70 million.

Elsewedy said it will secure the rest of the project’s finances from the French Development Agency’s PROPARCO.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail signed three Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) Wednesday with China’s TBEA, Saudi-based Swicorp, and Spain-based Acciona to build 150MW solar plants in Aswan under the second phase of the FiT.

The EBRD said on Wednesday that it is financing 16 new solar power plants in Egypt under the FiT scheme to become the single largest investor in renewable energy in Egypt.

With a total capacity of 750MW, total funding for solar energy projects amounts to $500 million.

“This investment has made an important contribution to the major shift in Egypt’s energy market; galvanizing the private sector in support of renewables’ development and creating a template for many similar projects in the sector in the future,” Harry Boyd-Carpenter, the EBRD’s Director for Power and Energy Utilities said in the statement.