EBRD Arranges 265 Million Dollars for Egypt’s Minya, Set to Be Africa’s Largest Solar Plant

By The Edge Research Team

Egypt’s Minya solar plant is lining up its debt. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on 20 October that it is arranging up to 265 million dollars for the project. The plant will have 1.2 gigawatts of solar capacity and 600 megawatt hours of battery storage. It is set to become the largest solar power plant in Egypt and Africa, the release says.

The borrower is Nefer Menya for Renewable Energy, a project company owned by Infinity Power and HAU Energy. Infinity Power is a joint venture set up in 2019 by Infinity and Masdar, the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company. HAU Energy belongs to Meridiam, Hassan Allam Utilities and the Bank itself. The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company will buy the power under a 25-year purchase agreement.

How the debt is built

Most of the loan is the Bank’s own money: a 160 million dollar A loan, the largest of its three tranches. Bank of Jordan takes the B loan. The Clean Technology Fund adds concessional money under its Global Energy Storage Program.

Germany’s DEG, the Dutch FMO and France’s Proparco lend alongside. The full debt package reaches up to 566 million dollars. At full size, the Bank-arranged loan is 46.8 percent of it, on our calculation. The other 301 million dollars of the package sits outside that loan, on the same calculation.

At full size, the debt package comes to 471,667 dollars per megawatt of solar capacity, on our calculation. That is a measure of debt, not of total project cost. The same money also pays for the batteries.

Minya’s Debt Package

Amounts are the maximums stated in the release of 20 October 2026; euro figures are the release’s own conversions, and its tranche figures sum to 232.1 million euros against the 232 million headline. Shares are our calculation.

What 1.2 gigawatts adds to Egypt’s fleet

Egypt had 3,738.86 megawatts of solar in operation in the New and Renewable Energy Authority’s July 2026 quarterly bulletin, on our sum of its public and private figures. Minya alone equals 32.1 percent of that, on our calculation.

All renewables in operation, across hydro, wind and solar, came to 9,616.56 megawatts on the same basis. The new plant is 12.5 percent of that base, on our calculation.

Storage is where the step is largest. The operating fleet carries 500 megawatt hours of batteries. On our calculation, Minya’s batteries alone would be 1.2 times that.

Private investors already dominate solar. On our calculation, their plants make up 93.4 percent of operating solar capacity.

Solar is also growing quickly. Operating solar capacity rose 16.0 percent between the April and July bulletins, on our calculation. That is 515.86 megawatts in a single quarter.

Solar produced 2,268.8 gigawatt hours from April to June 2026, on our sum of the monthly figures. That was 22.6 percent of all hydro, wind and solar output, on our calculation.

Minya Against Egypt’s Renewable Fleet

Fleet figures from the NREAmeter quarterly bulletin, Issue 31, July 2026, which covers April to June 2026. Minya is 1,200 MW and 600 MWh. Totals are our sums of the bulletin’s public and private figures; shares are our calculation.

A pipeline that keeps widening

Projects in construction and development to 2030 reached 20.8 gigawatts in the July bulletin, up from 17.7 gigawatts in April. On our calculation, planned battery storage more than doubled, to 13,850 megawatt hours. Solar takes 8,760 megawatts of the pipeline, on our sum.

The release also cites the energy pillar of Egypt’s NWFE programme. That pillar aims to bring in 10 gigawatts of new private renewable capacity. It also plans to cut 5 gigawatts of inefficient fossil fuel capacity. Minya alone equals 12 percent of the 10 gigawatt goal, on our calculation.

The Bank backed the same two developers on a smaller solar and storage plant at Benban in April. It lent HAU Energy 65 million dollars for that project, co-developed with Infinity Power. The Benban plant pairs 200 megawatts of solar with 120 megawatt hours of batteries. Minya is 6 times its capacity and 5 times its storage, on our calculation.

Infinity Power aims for 10 gigawatts of operational renewable capacity by 2032, its co-founder and chief executive, Nayer Fouad, said. Masdar ended 2025 with a total portfolio of 66.5 gigawatts. Of that, 45.8 gigawatts was in operation or under construction, up from 32 gigawatts. The company is aiming for 100 gigawatts by 2030.

The Bank’s book in Egypt

The Bank has invested more than 16 billion euros in Egypt through 238 projects since 2012. Its April release on Benban gave a count of 225, so 13 projects were added in six months, on our calculation.

On our reading of the country page, investment topped 1 billion euros in every year from 2020 to 2025. The project count reached 26 in both 2024 and 2025, the most in that six-year series. The Minya A loan comes from the Bank’s own funds. At 140.1 million euros, it equals 10.6 percent of the 2025 investment total, on our calculation. Sustainable infrastructure makes up 53.7 percent of the Egypt portfolio as at June 2026. Financial institutions come next, at 25.7 percent.

Six Years of Bank Investment in Egypt

Annual investment and project counts from the Egypt country page, data as at June 2026. Together the six years add up to 7,444 million euros, on our calculation.

The plant is expected to power more than 1.4 million homes. It should also avoid more than 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. Aida Sitdikova, the Bank’s director of sustainable infrastructure in the Middle East and Africa, called Egypt “a trailblazer in large-scale renewable energy deployment at affordable prices.”

Why it matters: Solar is adding capacity faster than any other part of Egypt’s renewable fleet, on our reading of the last two bulletins. Minya’s batteries alone would hold more than the whole fleet had in operation in the July bulletin. They store daytime power for the evening peak after sunset, so the sun works a second shift. The Bank, three other European development lenders, a Jordanian bank and a climate fund are lending to a plant that will sell its power to the state transmission company for 25 years.

Outlook: The authority publishes its bulletin every three months, and the next issue will show whether operating solar keeps adding capacity at the pace seen between the April and July bulletins. The Bank’s September forecast has Egypt’s economy growing 4.6 percent in 2026. For 2027 it forecasts 5.0 percent. Construction is the next milestone for Minya; the release gives no completion date.

Sources: EBRD, New and Renewable Energy Authority, Masdar, The Edge.

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