IFC Consortium Finalises Investment In The World’s Largest Solar Park

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A USD $653 million debt package for the construction of 13 solar farms at Egypt’s Benban Solar Park was finalised by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on the weekend.

The IFC states the project is the largest private sector financing package for solar PV facilities in the Middle East and North Africa. The clean power stations covered under the package will collectively have up to 752 megawatts capacity and provide green electricity to more than 350,000 residential customers.

The IFC says it has brought together nine international banks for the project, all of which are investing in Egypt’s renewable energy sector for the first time.

“Egypt’s reforms in its energy sector opened the door to private sector investments,” said Philippe Le Houérou, the CEO of IFC. “For the Benban Solar Park project, those reforms and our innovative financial tools have helped attract a number of investors and financiers into the country for the first time. This will create jobs for many Egyptians and provide clean and reliable energy for people across the country.”

It’s expected up to  6,000 jobs will be created during construction of the 13 plants.

The Corporation says the share of renewable energy investments in IFC’s power portfolio have more than doubled in the last decade to 60 percent.

Benban – The World’s Largest Solar Project

The Egyptian government has allocated approximately 37 square kilometres of land in Benban to be used exclusively for renewable energy generation. The land has been divided into 41 contiguous plots that will host a total of 1.8GW of solar energy capacity.

As well as addressing emissions, stimulating the local economy and generating thousands of jobs, Benban Solar Park will help tackle Egypt’s rapidly growing electricity demands. The pressure from demand on the country’s grid have led to increasing blackouts.

Benban is approximately 40 kilometres from Aswan and 650 kilometres from the nation’s capital, Cairo.

According to RCREEE, 94% of total primary energy consumption in Egypt is currently from fossil fuels.

Egypt’s government has set a goal of generating 20 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2022. To assist in achieving that goal, the Nubian Suns Feed-in-Tariff Financing Program established by the government will support individual solar facilities up to 50MW in size, with a view to the country initially having 2,000MW of 500kW+ solar projects and 300MW of <500kW solar power systems.