L R AS Published on Sunday 18 February 2018 - n° 222 - Categories:Africa
Egypt still scares private investors
The largest solar complex in the world, the Benban solar complex in Egypt (near Aswan) which represents 1.5 GW has only attracted international financing (for
1.8 billion), as private financiers remain wary of Egypt. This mistrust has resulted in a split of the project into average plots of 58 MW divided between 29 different projects and 25 project developers, while the feed-in tariff has been set at $ 0.078/kWh.
Egypt's Solar Pipeline :
Benban's lenders are international development finance agencies, including the International Finance Corporation, the African Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Arab Bank of Bahrain, the CDC Group, the European Arab Bank and others. A total of 16 development banks.
The reluctance of international financiers stems from Egypt's missteps in advocating in 2014 the establishment of the Cairo International Arbitration Centre to settle disputes. Then, the exchange rate was not fixed. The collapse of the Egyptian pound in 2016 when currency restrictions were lifted led to the departure of many developers. From then on, financiers will examine how this construction phase is progressing before committing further to major investments in Egypt. It is one of the most important and promising markets in the Middle East and Africa.
Developers in Egypt :
GreenTech Media of 14 February
