{"id":8373,"date":"2020-06-18T12:52:37","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T12:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oilnewskenya.com\/?p=8373"},"modified":"2020-06-18T12:52:37","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T12:52:37","slug":"infrastructure-fund-africa50-helps-egypts-solar-power-sector-take-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/infrastructure-fund-africa50-helps-egypts-solar-power-sector-take-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Infrastructure Fund Africa50 helps Egypt\u2019s Solar Power Sector take off"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>A 37-square-kilometer solar park so large that it can be seen from space, with over seven million photovoltaic panels, and funding of $4 billion. In Africa? Impossible? Not anymore.Thirty international infrastructure developers got behind this project, investing in Egypt\u2019s massive Benban solar park, which will be the largest in the world upon completion. Among the investors is Africa50, established by the African Development Bank .\n<p>Africa50 is an independent infrastructure fund, focused on high-impact projects mostly in the energy and transport sectors. The investment vehicle contributes to Africa\u2019s growth by developing and investing in bankable projects, catalyzing public sector capital and mobilizing private sector funding.<\/p>\n<p>Africa50\u2019s investment in Egypt\u2019s 1.5 GW solar park in the Aswan desert is a prime example.<\/p>\n<p>The solar energy potential in Egypt, a country known for year-round sunny days, has long tempted investors. But the high cost of solar plants led the government to favor climate-warming fossil fuels, accounting for 90% of its power generation.<\/p>\n<p>Now that the prices of its components have fallen, solar energy has become competitive, allowing Benban to become a reality. In 2017, Africa50 joined investors Norfund and Scatec Solar to reach financial close for six of the 32 utility scale solar power plants in the complex, totaling 390 MW.<\/p>\n<p>The Benban project, providing clean energy to hundreds of thousands of households, will help Egypt to reach its target of generating 20% of its power from renewable sources by 2022. It has put Egypt on the map as a major solar player in Africa and has set a precedent for using North Africa\u2019s ample solar resources to provide power while meeting climate change commitments.<\/p>\n<p>The solar power project has also demonstrated Africa50\u2019s ability to act as a bridge between the private sector and governments to deliver more projects more quickly and help narrow Africa\u2019s infrastructure gap.<\/p>\n<p>Africa50 is one of the largest contributors to the Benban park. With a 25% stake, the investment platform contributed equity to fund construction, alongside Scatec Solar and Norfund, which helped leverage total funding of around $450 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Dutch Development Bank FMO, the Green Climate Fund, the Islamic Development Bank, and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBenban is a good example of how we use early stage project development expertise and financing to rapidly bring projects to financial close and then add equity to encourage broader financing,\u201d\u00a0said Alain Ebobiss\u00e9, Africa50 CEO<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBenban is also the first of our dozen active projects to become fully operational and is now delivering clean energy to Egyptian people and businesses,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The plants are supported by 25-year power purchase agreements with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) under Egypt\u2019s Feed-in Tariff program, backstopped by a sovereign guarantee. Access roads and interconnection facilities were funded collectively by the Benban project developers under a cost-sharing agreement with EETC and the New and Renewable Energy Agency.<\/p>\n<p>The development impact of Benban is tremendous. Africa50\u2019s six plants alone created about 1,000 construction jobs (out of 4,500 total jobs) and a quarter of the 250 permanent operations positions.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, when the plants were operational, they started producing about 870 GW hours of power annually, providing clean energy for over 400,000 households and avoiding 350,000 tons of CO\u2082 emissions that would have been produced from non-renewable sources.<\/p>\n<p>The consortium is also pioneering the use of bifacial solar modules, capturing the sun from both sides of the panel to increase generation.<\/p>\n<p>The innovations of the Benban project could provide valuable insights for the Desert to Power program, led by the African Development Bank. Desert to Power, with which Africa50 is associated, aims to develop 10 GW of solar power across the Sahel by 2025 and supply 250 million people with green\u00a0electricity,\u00a0including in some of the world\u2019s poorest countries.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, Benban\u2019s links to the infrastructure of the Aswan Dam will help combine hydro, wind, and solar power, a model for other African regions.<\/p>\n<p>The landmark Benban project is an example of a fundamental change in the way an African country can provide power to its people.<\/p>\n<p>For decades, the Egyptian government had built and operated most power plants and was spending more on electricity subsidies than it was on education, healthcare, and social welfare combined.<\/p>\n<p>Benban proves that, with the right regulatory regime and cost structure, the private sector, supported by partners such as Africa50, can make solar power attractive, allowing governments to focus on other pressing priorities.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, in the time of COVID-19, partners such as Africa50 can play a key role in leveraging private finance to free up government budgets across the continent to deploy resources to fight the pandemic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 37-square-kilometer solar park so large that it can be seen from space, with over seven million photovoltaic panels, and funding of $4 billion. In Africa? Impossible? Not anymore.Thirty international &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/infrastructure-fund-africa50-helps-egypts-solar-power-sector-take-off\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":8374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7442,7446,4746,4748],"tags":[7536,7590,709,7596,7591,7595,3085,5478,7592,7593,7594],"class_list":["post-8373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-countries","category-north-africa","category-renewables-2","category-solar","tag-africa50","tag-benban-solar-park","tag-egypt","tag-egyptian-electricity-transmission-company","tag-european-bank-for-reconstruction-and-development-ebrd","tag-islamic-corporation-for-the-development-of-the-private-sector","tag-norfund","tag-scatec-solar","tag-the-dutch-development-bank-fmo","tag-the-green-climate-fund","tag-the-islamic-development-bank","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Benban-solar-pack.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JWkQ-2b3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5469,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/east-africas-largest-solar-plant-starts-operations\/","url_meta":{"origin":8373,"position":0},"title":"East Africa\u2019s Largest Solar Plant Starts Operations","author":"","date":"December 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Made up of 32,680 photovoltaic panels, the new 10 megawatt facility is the country\u2019s first grid-connected solar plant and will generate clean, low-carbon, sustainable electricity to 40,000 homes, schools and businesses in the area Honorable D\u2019Ujanga Simon, Minister of State for Energy, together with representatives of Access Power, EREN RE\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Renewables 2&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Renewables 2","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/renewables-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/DJI_0132.JPG.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/DJI_0132.JPG.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/DJI_0132.JPG.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/DJI_0132.JPG.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/DJI_0132.JPG.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11355,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/mozambique-globeleq-edm-and-sasol-announces-financial-close-of-the-central-termica-de-temane-power-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":8373,"position":1},"title":"MOZAMBIQUE: Globeleq, EDM and Sasol, Announces Financial Close of the Central Termica de Temane Power Project","author":"","date":"December 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Debt financing of the US$652.3 million project is being provided by IFC, together with its \"B\" loan participants FMO and Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (together US$253.5 million), US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) (approximately US$191.5 million) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund) (US$50 million). The Multilateral Investment\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Countries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Countries","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/countries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Mozambique-Temane-Power-Project.jpg?fit=700%2C491&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Mozambique-Temane-Power-Project.jpg?fit=700%2C491&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Mozambique-Temane-Power-Project.jpg?fit=700%2C491&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Mozambique-Temane-Power-Project.jpg?fit=700%2C491&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12732,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/mozambique-afdbs-sustainable-energy-africa-fund-for-africa-provides-2-5-million-to-increase-penetration-of-renewable-energy\/","url_meta":{"origin":8373,"position":2},"title":"Mozambique: AfDB&#8217;s Sustainable Energy Africa Fund for Africa Provides $2.5 Million to Increase Penetration of Renewable Energy","author":"","date":"October 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a grant of a grant of $2.5 million to the Mozambican government to develop renewable energy resources. The grant, from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), administered by the Bank, will be used to implement the Mozambique\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Countries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Countries","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/countries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Floating-solar-power.jpeg?fit=780%2C490&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Floating-solar-power.jpeg?fit=780%2C490&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Floating-solar-power.jpeg?fit=780%2C490&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Floating-solar-power.jpeg?fit=780%2C490&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10972,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/green-climate-fund-invests-150-million-in-desert-to-power-g5-sahel-financing-facility\/","url_meta":{"origin":8373,"position":3},"title":"Green Climate Fund Invests $150 million in Desert to Power G5 Sahel Financing Facility","author":"","date":"October 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The African Development Bank has welcomed $150 million investment in its Desert to Power G5 Financing Facility from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The GCF approved the amount at its 30th\u00a0Board meeting this week. Desert-to-Power is a flagship renewable energy and economic development initiative led by the African Development Bank.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Central Africa&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Central Africa","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/countries\/central-africa\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Kom-Ombo-solar-park.jpg?fit=800%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Kom-Ombo-solar-park.jpg?fit=800%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Kom-Ombo-solar-park.jpg?fit=800%2C400&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Kom-Ombo-solar-park.jpg?fit=800%2C400&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14214,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/mauritania-over-289m-in-financing-to-develop-solar-power-generation-transmission-accelerate-energy-transition\/","url_meta":{"origin":8373,"position":4},"title":"MAURITANIA: Over $289M in Financing to Develop Solar Power Generation, Transmission &#038; Accelerate Energy Transition","author":"","date":"January 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Mauritania's Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Abdessalam Mohamed Saleh, and the African Development Bank's Deputy Managing Director for North Africa, Malinne Blomberg, signed, on Thursday in Nouakchott, financing agreements for two energy sector projects in Mauritania worth a total of US$289.5 million, covering solar power generation, transnational electricity interconnection\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Countries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Countries","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/countries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5366,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/scatec-solar-norfund-sign-power-purchase-agreement-for-mozambiques-first-large-scale-solar-plant\/","url_meta":{"origin":8373,"position":5},"title":"Scatec Solar, Norfund sign Power Purchase Agreement for Mozambique&#8217;s first large scale Solar Plant","author":"","date":"November 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Scatec Solar \u00a0and Norfund \u00a0have signed the Power Purchase Agreement securing\u00a0 the sale of solar power over a 25 year period to the state owned utility Electricidade de Mozambique (EDM). The agreement was signed at a ceremony in Maputo yesterday in the presence of the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Renewables 2&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Renewables 2","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/renewables-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Scatec-solar-2.png?fit=600%2C311&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Scatec-solar-2.png?fit=600%2C311&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Scatec-solar-2.png?fit=600%2C311&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8375,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8373\/revisions\/8375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}