The African Development Bank’s (AfDB’s) $7.6-billion Climate Investment Fund (CIF) on Tuesday permitted Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia to proceed with an updated version of a sweeping plan to create an unparalleled 1 120 MW of energy from concentrated solar power (CSP) for the region.

The AfDB stated that the plan was first endorsed by the CIF in 2009 and had undergone changes by each country post the Arab Spring changes by each country to reflect the political and economic conditions in the region and to build on emerging lessons from the plan’s first project – the 160 MW Ouarzazate plant, in Morocco, the construction of which was currently under way.

The revised plan would see the countries receive $660-million from the CIF’s Clean Technology Fund (CTF), down from $750-million stipulated in the original plan and was expected to leverage nearly $5-billion from other donors and private financing.

According to the amended CTF allocations, Morocco would receive $218-million for 300 MW for the second phase of the Ouarzazate plant; Egypt would get $123-million for the 100 MW Kom Ombo plant; Tunisia would be given $62-million for the 50 MW Akarit plant; while $50-million would be given to Jordan for up to 100 MW, including  concentrated photovoltaic (CPV).

The new plan provides a realignment of projects in the pipeline, based on each country’s reassessed needs; focuses on well-performing projects; and has expanded horizons to include CPV technologies and business models including, the public sector, public-private partnerships and independent power producers.

The initial plan projected a total of 895 MW of power; however, with the revision, the region expected to achieve 1.12 GW, making it the most ambitious CSP programme in the world.

The AfDB further added that the plan also added a technical assistance component to complement efforts at project level and establish a critical platform for knowledge exchange and increase private sector involvement and regional integration.

“We can all look to this revised plan as both a signal of hope for the forward economic and social movement in the region built on renewable energy and a more realistic blueprint for the evolution of renewables as a potent engine of power globally,” CIF programme coordinator Mafalda Duarte stated.