KfW IPEX-Bank is contributing USD 125 million to Dubai’s first waste incineration plant
The plant will convert up to 1.9 million tonnes of municipal waste per year into electricity
The total investment volume is USD 1.15 billion
KfW IPEX-Bank is providing long-term financing for the development, construction and operation of a waste incineration plant in Dubai. The project involves total debt financing of USD 900 million, with KfW IPEX-Bank’s share amounting to USD 125 million plus interest hedging instruments. Six other commercial banks and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) are participating. The majority of the commercial bank financing will be covered by NEXI, the Japanese export credit insurer. The plant is scheduled to be completed in 2024.

The waste incineration plant will be one of the largest in the world, handling 1.9 million tonnes of waste per year. In 2018, some 3.7 million tonnes of waste were generated in the Emirate of Dubai, most of which had previously been disposed of in landfills. Thus the plant’s capacity will correspond to about 50 per cent of the city’s annual volume of municipal waste. The project underpins the Emirate’s goal to fundamentally change the way it disposes of waste and contributes to the Dubai Clean Strategy 2050. The aim is to reduce the amount of waste going to landfilling by 75 per cent and to generate three quarters of Dubai’s total electricity from alternative energy sources by 2050. The plant will have an electricity generation capacity of 194MW and thus contribute significantly to securing the Emirate’s energy supply.

“With a waste volume of 1.9 million tonnes and an electricity generation capacity of 194MW per year, the waste incineration plant financed by KfW IPEX-Bank will be one of the largest in the world,” said Markus Scheer, member of the Management Board at KfW IPEX-Bank. “At the same time, the project complements existing projects as we transition to a circular economy – clean, safe and energy-generating waste disposal mitigates climate change and protects the environment.”

The plant’s design envisages five independently operating combustion lines. The technology in use, a grate firing system, can be regarded as reliable and is frequently selected for the thermal treatment of residual waste. A high level of technical expertise for the plant technology as a whole was ensured through the professional specifications of the EPC contractor, a joint venture between Hitachi Zosen Corporation (HZI) and BESIX.

With its financing KfW IPEX-Bank is supporting European exports and investments. Key components of the plant, for example, come from Swiss-based HZI. The Belgian BESIX Group will be responsible for on-site construction.