TAQA Arabia gets EBRD funding for 7-MW solar project in Egypt

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing USD 5.5 million (EUR 5.5m) to the renewable energy subsidiary of Egyptian energy company TAQA Arabia to build and operate a 7-MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) project in El Minya, Egypt.

The solar installation will sell its generation to ASCOM Carbonate and Chemical Manufacturing (ACCM), a producer of ground calcium carbonate, under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

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The new tranche of funding, announced by the EBRD on Tuesday, includes a USD-4.95-million loan from the EBRD and a USD-550,000 concessional loan from the Global Environment Facility. It follows a USD-4.2-million loan to TAQA Arabia in 2020 for a 6-MWp PV power plant at Dina Farms, Africa’s largest dairy farm, in the Beheira governorate, which was the first private-to-private renewable energy project backed by the EBRD in Egypt.

“Supporting the growing private-to-private segment of renewable energy is critical to accelerate the decarbonisation of the economy and foster green supply chains in Egypt and across the African continent,” said Nandita Parshad, managing director of the EBRD’s Sustainable Infrastructure Group.

Egypt, which now hosts the COP27 global climate summit, aims to increase the share of renewables generation to 42% by 2035 from 20% in 2022, the EBRD noted.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.996)