ACWA Power reaches financial close for 200 MW solar project in Egypt

Saudi Arabian energy giant ACWA Power announced the financial close for the 200 MW Kom Ombo project, a utility-scale solar power plant in Egypt. With an overall investment cost of US$182 million, the Kom Ombo plant is expected to be commercially operational in January 2024.

ACWA Power announced a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Government of Egypt in October 2018 to develop, finance, construct and operate the Kom Ombo project. The plant will be located less than 20 kilometres from Africa’s biggest solar park, the 1,465 MW Benban complex, also developed by ACWA Power.

A financial package of US$ 123 million for the project was previously announced in April 2023. The package comprised of loans of up to US$ 35.6 million from the EBRD, US$ 14.4 million from the OPEC Fund, US$ 14.4 million from the AfDB, US$ 34.1 million from the GCF, US$ 14.4 million from Arab Bank and US$ 10 million from the SEFA under the COVID-19 IPP relief programme. The project already has equity bridge loans of US$ 14 million from the EBRD and US$ 45 million from APICORP.

The International Renewable Energy Agency's (IRENA) latest statistics show that Egypt hit 1,724 MW of cumulative installed PV capacity at the end of 2022.