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Egypt’s utility projects keep pace

11 February 2025

 

The overall value of awarded contracts in Egypt's power and water sector in 2024 doubled to $3.9bn compared to the previous year.

Water project contract awards significantly decelerated while power contract awards soared in 2024, according to the latest available data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects.

Egypt's water sector awarded just $113m-worth of contracts in 2024, compared to close to $1.3bn in 2023. Contract awards in the power sector, on the other hand, increased by more than five-fold to reach $3.8bn in 2024.

Power contract awards

Egypt awarded several solar, wind, nuclear and transmission and distribution contracts in 2024, including a 1,000MW solar photovoltaic (PV) and 100MW battery energy storage system plant to be developed by Norway's Scatec.

The Norwegian renewable energy developer also agreed to develop another 1,000MW solar PV farm with aluminium producer Egyptalum.

Red Sea Wind Energy, the project company developing a 500MW onshore wind farm in the Gulf of Suez, managed to obtain financing for a 150MW extension of the project.

Red Sea Wind Energy is a consortium of France’s Engie, which holds a 35% stake; the local Orascom Construction, which holds 25%; Japan’s Toyota Tsusho Corporation with 20%; and Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation with 20%.

According to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, a total loan of $106m is co-financed with the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Norinchukin Bank, and France's Societe Generale.

Japan’s Nippon Export & Investment Insurance has also agreed to provide insurance for the loans.

On the nuclear power generation front, civil construction works are ongoing for the reactors of the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant in Matrouh.

Russia's Rosatom State Corporation Engineering Division appointed Northern Construction Department, a division of Titan-2 Holding, as the main contractor for the $563m civil works supporting the main and auxiliary buildings and structures of the nuclear islands for units three and four of the El-Dabaa plant.

Rosatom also appointed SC SEM, another Titan-2 Holding division, as the main contractor for the $421m package to undertake electrical installation works and foundation grounding systems for units three and four.

Other key projects awarded in 2024 include the 300MW Alexandria wind power plant and the 200MW Ras Ghareb wind farm.

Water sector

Egypt remains one of the most water-stressed states in the Middle East and North Africa region, with an annual water deficit of about 7 billion cubic metres, according to Unicef, and only 500 cubic metres of renewable water resources per capita a year, according to the Food & Agriculture Organisation.

Despite this, the procurement of water desalination public-private partnership (PPP) projects to augment the potable water supply continues to face delays.

In 2023, the Sovereign Fund of Egypt prequalified 17 teams and companies to bid for the contracts to develop up to 8.85 million cubic metres a day of renewable energy-powered desalination capacity in the North African state.

MEED reported in July 2024 that the technical consultant for these schemes was undertaking final assessments of the locations and land allocated for the first batch of projects.

However, as of February 2025, a request for proposals has yet to be issued to the prequalified developers. 

Only a handful of water sector-related contracts were awarded in 2024, including a lifting station project and a wastewater treatment scheme in Cairo and a contract to rehabilitate several canals in Dakahlia Governorate.

Outlook

In January, the developer team behind the 1,100MW Suez wind independent power project (IPP) in Egypt, which is led by Saudi utility developer Acwa Power, awarded the project's engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to Beijing-headquartered PowerChina.

Located in the Gulf of Suez and the Gabal El-Zeit area, the Suez wind farm, Egypt's largest wind IPP to date, has an overall investment value of $1.2bn.

The project recently reached financial close, more than two years after the Acwa Power-led consortium signed the project agreements.

This indicates a promising change of pace, as well as gradually improving investor confidence, following years of uncertainty due to Egypt's currency crisis.

The project secured a $703.6m senior debt facility from a consortium of the following banks:

  • European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD)
  • African Development Bank 
  • British International Investment Corporation
  • German Investment Corporation
  • Opec Fund for International Development
  • Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (Apicorp)

The senior debt funded by EBRD included a B loan structure provided by Standard Chartered Bank and Arab Bank. Acwa Power holds a 70% stake in the project, with HAU Energy owning the remaining 30%.

Meanwhile, SCZone Istithmar has invited interested firms to prequalify to bid for a contract to develop a seawater desalination plant at Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone. SCZone Istithmar is wholly owned by the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

The finance ministry's PPP Central Unit, along with EBRD, is supporting SCZone Istithmar in the project's tender proceedings.

Overall, an estimated $42bn-worth of power contracts are in the pre-execution phase in Egypt, which is significantly more than the $5.3bn of water sector contracts that are at the same stage.

These include major projects that are in the concept or memorandum of understanding stages, such as the 2,000MW onshore wind power project that Dubai-based renewable energy investor Alcazar Energy Partners plans to develop in Egypt.

The value of power contracts under execution, at about $10.4bn, is also three times the value of known water projects that are under construction in the North African state.

While the estimated value of overall utility contracts awarded in 2024 is far from being a record high, especially compared to the $9.3bn of awarded contracts in 2015, it shows a significant improvement compared to 2023.

The volume and value of pre-execution projects also remain robust, although a significant number – including the planned seawater desalination plants – have been in the planning and design stages for some time.

A good scenario would be for Egypt to be able to maintain, if not improve, the momentum of tender proceedings and awards in 2025. The project announcement activity during the first month of this year suggests that this could be a possibility.

READ THE FEBRUARY MEED BUSINESS REVIEW

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