EBRD to lend $4.8m to back solar, other renewables in Egypt

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said this week that it will provide up to $4.8 million of loans to Intro Sustainable Resources (Intro-SR) and Intro Solar SAE to support the development of a solar plant and other energy-related projects in Egypt. 

It said the senior secured loan will support Intro-SR’s equity stake in a portfolio of PV, energy efficiency, waste-to-energy, and waste management projects. The installations will include one of the first private-to-private energy generation projects in Egypt, as well as the expansion of a plastic bottle recycling facility.

The investments will all support energy efficiency, according to the EBRD. It did not reveal many details about the solar project it will support, other than to say that the funds it provides will be used to refinance a PV array developed under the first round of the Egyptian feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme.

Intro Sustainable Resource, owned by Intro Investments Holding, was set up in 2020 to develop renewables and energy efficiency projects. Egypt-based Intro Solar, meanwhile, is a special purpose vehicle that runs a 5 MW solar plant developed under the first round of the nation’s FIT program.

The EBRD has now invested more than €8.5 billion in 144 projects throughout Egypt since 2012. In 2020, it announced plans to provide $36 million to ACWA Power, in support of a 200 MW solar project in Kom Ombo, Egypt. The loan was part of a broader $114 million solar financing package involving the OPEC Fund for International Development and the African Development Bank.