The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) has approved the allocation of $100m loan for the project to upgrade the West Cairo power plant in Egypt.

The project will boost the capacity of the West Cairo plant by 650MW. The Saudi Fund provided a total amount of SR375m ($99.8m) for a new power plant in Damietta in 2014.

MEED reported in September that the Saudi Fund would be one of the financiers for the Cairo West project, along with the Islamic Development Bank, providing a $222m loan, and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, providing a loan of KD30m ($98.4m).

Development banks are taking a leading role in financing Egypt’s power investment. The Ministry of Electricity & Renewable Energy (MOERE) aims to install 54GW, or 6.5GW a year, until 2022, but lacks the financial resources to fund the new generating capacity directly.

The capacity-building drive is needed to meet fast-growing demand. Peak demand in the country is expected to rise at about 6 per cent a year between 2014 and 2022.