Cairo – Mubasher: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) agreed to participate in a $252 million funding for West Bakr wind project in Egypt.

The project will be also funded by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US Government’s development finance institution, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), according to a statement.

“This is a major milestone, not just for Lekela and its partners, but also for Egypt and its clean energy strategy. We are proud to play a part in supporting the diversification of Egypt’s generation capacity by delivering best-in-class clean energy projects,” Lekela’s CEO, Chris Antonopoulos, said.

Located in the north-west of the Red Sea’s Ras Ghareb, the 250 megawatts green energy project will be fully operational by 2021, with an annual capacity of 1,000 gigawatts/hour.

“As our first project in Egypt, we have enjoyed working closely with partners and stakeholders, including the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company and the New and Renewable Energy Authority, to get to this point,” Antonopoulos commented.

West Bakr wind is expected to up Egypt’s wind energy capacity by 14%, helping the North African country meet its target of generating 20% of electricity from renewable sources by 2022.