IFC has an equity investment held since 2015 in the renewable energy platform Alcazar Energy Partners (the “Company”), an independent developer and power producer focused on wind and solar projects in the MENA region. The complaint relates specifically to Alcazar Energy’s Al Rajef Wind Project in Jordan, an 86 MW wind farm with a project cost of US$ 185m, located near the village of Al Rajef in the Ma’an Governate of Jordan approximately 220km south of Amman in Jordan. Based on IFC’s equity in Alcazar, it is exposed to the Al-Rajef wind farm project, which commenced commercial operations in November 2018. The project is financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) and Proparco.

In March 2020, a local resident filed a complaint with CAO in relation to the Al-Rajef wind farm. The complaint entails a concern about the potential impact of the wind farm on the complainant’s unit, including noise and flashing lights from the project site. The complainant requested confidentiality.

CAO found the complaint eligible for assessment in March 2020 and began an assessment of the complaint. During the assessment, the complainant and the company agreed to engage in a voluntary dialogue process to try to resolve the dispute. 

During the dialogue process, the complainant initially elected to withdraw from the dispute resolution process. He later changed his mind and requested to continue, but eventually became unreachable after his request. The complaint was then transferred to CAO’s compliance function for appraisal on May 3, 2021. 

In conducting the compliance appraisal, CAO was unable to make further contact with the complainant. Due to this, the appraisal is based primarily on IFC and client documentation. The appraisal report, which is available in Arabic and English, did not identify evidence of significant adverse environmental and social project outcomes or issues of systemic importance warranting an investigation.