Jbic extends $51m loan to Suez wind farm

22 November 2024

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (Jbic) has signed a loan agreement of approximately $51m with Red Sea Wind Energy to finance the expansion of the Gulf of Suez 2 onshore wind farm project in Egypt.

The original project has a capacity of 500MW, which reached financial close in early 2023.

The expansion adds another 150MW, with the original leaders together extending a further co-financing totaling $106m.

Red Sea Wind Energy, the project company that will build, own and operate the project, is a consortium of France’s Engie with 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 Jbic, the total loan of $106m is co-financed with the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and the Norinchukin Bank, and France's Societe Generale.

MEED reported in September that the expansion will require an additional investment of roughly $127m.

Japan’s Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (Nexi) has also agreed to provide insurance for loans extended by commercial financial institutions for the expansion of the Gulf of Suez Wind Farm 2 project.

According to Nexi, it will provide cover for an approximately $35m loan extended by the commercial banks, as well as for the interest rate swap agreement guaranteed by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).

The project company has been developing the 500MW onshore wind farm, located in the Ras Ghareb region facing the Red Sea, approximately 200 kilometres southeast of the capital, Cairo. It consists of 84 wind turbine generators.

The 150MW expansion of the project entails the addition of a further 20 wind turbine generators, according to Nexi. 

The project is expected to be completed by mid-2025.

The consortium will operate and maintain the plant under a 25-year power-purchase agreement (PPA) with Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC). Egypt’s Ministry of Finance is backing EETC’s obligations under the PPA.

Orascom Construction will execute the construction of the civil and electrical works for the wind farm.

HSBC Bank Egypt acted as the working capital bank and onshore security agent for the original transaction, which closed in 2023.

This project marked the first cofinancing between Jbic and EBRD since the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in October 2022 and the first joint project between Nexi and EBRD since an MoU in October 2020.

MEED reported in March 2023 that Jbic had signed a loan agreement to finance up to $240m of the project.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo
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