EBRD arranges $265m for Egypt’s 1.2GW Nefer Menya solar and storage plant

The EBRD has arranged a syndicated loan of up to $265m for Nefer Menya, the 1.2GW solar plant with 600MWh of battery storage that Infinity Power and HAU Energy are developing in Minya. It forms part of a debt package of up to $566m, with the power sold under a 25-year PPA.

Up to $265m of the debt behind Nefer Menya, the 1.2GW solar plant and 600MWh battery that Infinity Power and HAU Energy are developing in Egypt’s Minya governorate, has been arranged by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which describes it as the largest solar PV project in Egypt and in Africa.

Of that facility, $160m is the EBRD’s own lending and $75m has been mobilised from Bank of Jordan as a B loan, with up to $30m more coming as concessional finance from the Climate Investment Funds’ Clean Technology Fund through its Global Energy Storage Program.

Germany’s DEG and the Dutch lender FMO are co-financing alongside the bank, with Proparco also lending, in an aggregate debt package of up to $566m for the plant.

Power from Nefer Menya will be sold to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company under a 25-year power purchase agreement. The EBRD expects the plant to supply more than 1.4 million homes and avoid more than 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 a year.

Behind the project company sit two sponsors in which the EBRD itself holds equity. Infinity Power was set up in 2019 as a joint venture between Infinity and Masdar, and HAU Energy B.V. was established in 2024 and is owned by Meridiam and Hassan Allam Utilities alongside the bank.

The plant counts towards the energy pillar of Egypt’s Nexus of Water, Food and Energy programme, which the EBRD leads and which targets 10GW of new private-sector renewable capacity and 5GW of fossil-fuel capacity taken off the system. Aida Sitdikova, the EBRD’s Director of Sustainable Infrastructure in the Middle East and Africa, said “Egypt continues to be a trailblazer in large-scale renewable energy deployment at affordable prices.”

The Clean Technology Fund money also pays for two nationally accredited green-skills training programmes in Minya for young people entering the labour market, along with support for Hassan Allam Utilities’ gender-equality and workforce policies.

Dalia Wahba, Chief Executive of Hassan Allam Utilities, framed the plant in terms of the fuel Egypt buys, saying “every megawatt-hour we produce reduces reliance on imported fuel.”