EBRD, France’s Proparco offer USD 116 mn to finance Benban power plants
God bless the DFIs — EBRD, Proparco offer USD 116 mn to finance Benban power plants: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and France’s Proparco are each committing USD 58 mn to finance the construction and operation of two 50 MW solar power plants in Benban, according to an EBRD statement. Egyptian subsidiaries of France’s EREN Renewable Energy and Dubai’s Access Power will construct, operate, and own the power plants, according to the statement. “These are truly groundbreaking projects, the first to reach this milestone in Egypt’s ambitious scheme to exploit its outstanding renewable resources,” said Janet Heckman, EBRD’s managing director for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean. The plants are the first two projects under the second phase of the feed-in tariff program to receive financing, in addition to being the first projects from the EBRD’s USD 500 mn framework to finance renewable energy projects in Egypt, which it approved in June.