Egypt signs financing agreements for Energy Valley Solar project

Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly on Monday witnessed the signing of preliminary financing agreements for the Valley for Sustainable Energy, also known as the Energy Valley project, developed by Norway’s renewable energy firm Scatec.

The agreements were signed on the sidelines of the inauguration of the first phase of Scatec’s Obelisk solar power project in Nag Hammadi, in Egypt’s Qena governorate.

The Energy Valley project, with estimated investments of about $1.8 billion, will include a 1.7-gigawatt alternating current solar power plant to be built in Minya governorate, Scatec said.

The project will be supported by battery energy storage systems with a combined capacity of 4 gigawatt-hours, distributed across Minya, Qena and Alexandria, in a move aimed at improving grid stability and easing geographical congestion on Egypt’s national electricity network.

Preliminary financing agreements were signed between the project company, owned by Scatec, and the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the African Development Bank.

Scatec said the Energy Valley project would be among the largest integrated renewable energy projects globally and the first in the region designed to supply clean, stable electricity on a 24-hour basis at competitive tariffs.

The project will also include four transformer substations and dedicated transmission lines and is expected to supply electricity to a new industrial zone in Wadi Al-Sareeriyah in Minya.

Separately, China’s Sungrow has begun implementing an industrial project in Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone, establishing a factory to manufacture batteries and energy storage systems, the government said. Sungrow signed a usufruct contract for the facility on Sunday, part of whose output will be allocated to the Energy Valley project, with the remainder serving domestic and regional markets.

Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English

Subediting: Y.Yasser