Funding agreed for Yemen demo project

YEMEN: Yemen's long-delayed Al Mokha demonstration wind power project has received a shot in the arm with news that the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) has agreed a grant of $65 million.

by Jan Dodd 19 April 2012

At the same time, the OPEC Fund for International Development also approved a loan of $20 million to support the 60MW project.

In 2010 the World Bank approved a grant of $20 million for technical assistance in developing the Al Mokha project "to demonstrate the sustained financial and economic viability of wind". Yemen could generate as much as 1GW along its Red Sea coast, the bank estimates.

Based in Kuwait, AFESD is a regional financial institution focused on financing public and private investment projects and providing grants and expertise to support economic and social development.