World Bank to back Egypt’s second utility-scale CSP plant

(ADPnews) – Oct 11, 2010 – The World Bank will provide USD 270 million (EUR 193m) in fresh funding to Egypt to construct its second utility-scale concentrating solar power (CSP) project as the country races with Morocco to conquer the North African solar lead.

The 100 MW parabolic-trough Kom Ombo project, set to pop up near the Aswan High Dam hydro plant in southern Egypt, will stomach a total USD 700 million by the time it is completed in 2017.

The World Bank will support the project with USD 100 million through its Clean Technology Fund and an additional USD 170 million in loans. Egypt is hoping to drum up extra finance from the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism.

Meanwhile, the USD 320 million Kuraymat project, south of Cairo, which will have 20 MW of CSP capacity alongside 120 MW of conventional natural gas, is nearing completion.

Energy-starved Egypt derives the bulk of its electricity at the moment from natural gas-fired power plants but has set itself an aggressive 20% renewable energy target by 2020. The country hopes to deliver a vast portion of this goal through the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII) -- which targets the development of renewable energy sources in the desert regions of the Middle East and Northern Africa to meet up to 15% of Europe's electricity needs by 2050 -- and the Mediterranean Solar Plan to build 20 GW of solar facilities on the southern shore of the Mediterranean by 2020.

But Cairo’s ambitions suffered a setback in July when the DII announced that its first major North African project would be sited in Morocco, where it would benefit from an existing transmission link with Spain.

With electricity consumption climbing up by 7%-8% each year, the government believes it will need at least 1 GW of solar capacity and 7.2 GW of wind by 2020 to be able to hit its target.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.716)

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