The concession for the Project was awarded in 2019 following a competitive tender to a consortium coordinated and led on an operational day-to-day basis by AMEA Power (“AMEA”). AMEA was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Dubai, UAE. The company develops, finances, builds, owns, and operates renewable energy plants in Africa, Middle east, and Asia. The Project Company, a special purpose vehicle, Kairouan Solar Plant Sarl. (“KSP”) has been set-up.

 The total Project cost is estimated at approximately $100 million, to be leveraged on up to 75/25 debt to equity basis. IFC’s proposed investment includes an up to $20 million A Loan from its own account and up to $17 million from IFC as implementing entity of the Clean Technology Fund. IFC is also expected to provide an interest rate swap to partially hedge the senior debt.

 The proposed Project site is located in the Kairouan Governorate in the delegation of Sbikha, around 110km south of Tunis, 15km north of Kairouan and about 500m northeast of the Sbikha Industrial zone.

This is a Category B project according to IFC’s Policy on Environmental and Social Sustainability as the Environmental and Social (“E&S”) impacts associated with the project are limited, generally project-specific and can be addressed through the implementation of good international industry practices.  Furthermore, it is possible to design and implement engineering and management measures to mitigate adverse impacts during construction and operation.  The environmental and social risks are moderate and for those that have been identified, the client’s ESHS management system and the agreed E&S Action Plan (“ESAP”) provides appropriate mitigation.