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Chinese firm signs 505MW Egypt wind deal

14 June 2023

Shanghai-headquartered Envision Energy will supply wind turbines for Egypt’s 505MW Amunet wind farm project, located in Ras Ghareb in the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea coast.

The wind independent power producer (IPP) project is being developed by Amunet Wind Power Company, which is owned 60 per cent by UAE-based Amea Power and 40 per cent by Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation.

The Chinese renewable energy solutions provider will supply its EN171-6.5MW wind turbines for the project due to their "efficiency, reliability and safety in harsh environments".

It is the same wind turbine model that the company will be supplying for the 1,670MW wind project supporting the $8.4bn Neom green hydrogen project in Saudi Arabia.

Finance

The 505MW Amunet wind IPP reached financial close last year, with Washington-based International Financial Corporation (IFC) as lead arranger.

IFC mobilised over $500m for the project from the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation and from three commercial banks – Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

Nippon Export Investment Insurance and a working capital facility from the Commercial International Bank of Egypt provided insurance cover for the project finance.

Amunet will sell the electricity generated from the wind farm at a levelised electricity cost of 3.0 $cents a kilowatt-hour ($c/kWh) to the state-owned Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

The total project cost is estimated at $709m, with IFC understood to be providing an estimated $83m, according to a local media report.

The 505MW Amunet wind IPP project is expected to be commissioned in 2025.

Abyodos solar PV

Another project, the 560MW solar photovoltaic (PV) scheme in Kom Ombo, is being developed by Amea Power subsidiary Abyodos Solar Power Company (ASPC).

The project reached financial close at the same time as the Amunet wind IPP project last year, with IFC as lead arranger.

ASPC will sell the electricity generated from the $330m Abyodos solar IPP project at 2.0 $c/kWh to EETC under a 25-year PPA.

MEED understands IFC mobilised up to $160m in long-term loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank to support the solar PV project.

Amea Power is a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-based Al-Nowais Investments. 

Image: Pixabay

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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