EBRD allocates US$500 million for Egypt’s solar programme

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Egypt targets 20% of the country’s electricity coming from renewables by 2020. Credit: EBRD

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has allocated up to US$500 million in support of Egypt’s solar energy programme in 2016.

The programme is aiming for up to 2GW of utility-scale solar capacity delivered through 40 projects of 50MW each. This will be part of the country's target to source 20% of its electricity from renewables by 2020.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Many of these projects will be located on a planned 1.8GW site near Benban in north Egypt.

The EBRD expects to finance several such plants and mobilise up to US$1.5 billion in debt and equity from other financiers for these ventures. The total cost of the projects is expected to be in the region of US$4 billion.  

The solar projects, to be constructed entirely by private firms, have been supported by recent reforms. The EBRD said it has worked closely with the Egyptian authorities to provide technical cooperation during the development of a legal and regulatory framework for renewable energy. This included contractual agreements, the solar grid code and environmental and social due diligence.

Nandita Parshad, EBRD director for power and energy, said: “Successfully implementing the feed-in tariff programme will unlock Egypt’s potential by providing a regulatory framework that can attract private capital. This initial programme is significant in itself. But the really exciting element is that once the country has an established model for private investment in renewables, there will be huge potential for widespread, rapid deployment, thanks to Egypt's fantastic resources and the falling cost of renewable generation.”

EBRD recently approved a US$250 million credit facility for private sector renewable energy projects in Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia. Once implemented, the total EBRD investment in renewables will surpass US$5 billion.

In August, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) have announced three new tenders for 500MW of new solar and wind capacity for the West Nile area of the country.

25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.

Read Next

June 30, 2025
Voting on the US tax reconciliation bill is expected to begin in the Senate today, following a draft published on Friday that hit clean energy tax credits hard.
June 27, 2025
Renewables investment platform Nexwell Power has signed a round of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with “one of the largest” US tech companies for solar PV capacity to be built in Spain.
Premium
June 27, 2025
PV Talk: '2024 was a transformational year in terms of energy policy,' says Monika Paplaczyk ahead of this year's Clean Power 2030 Summits.
June 26, 2025
A group of minority shareholders in Norwegian silicon firm REC Silicon has triggered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the closure of the company’s US polysilicon production site.
June 24, 2025
FRV has started commercial operations at its 55MW Masrik-1 PV project in Armenia, the largest to enter operation in the country.
June 24, 2025
Independent power producer (IPP) Recurrent Energy has secured €61.5 million (US$71.4 million) in financing for its Italian renewables portfolio.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico
Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 22, 2025
Bilbao, Spain
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA