Orascom-Engie-Toyota seal financial closure for 250MW wind farm

CAIRO - 18 December 2017: Orascom Construction (OC)- Engie-Toyota Tsusho consortium reached financial closure for 250MW wind farm in the Gulf of Suez, OC announced in a Monday statement.

Commissioned under the build-own-operate (BOO) system, the wind plant is financed by the Japan Bank for International Corporation (JBIC) in coordination with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Société Générale under a loan cover from Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI).

The Commercial International Bank (CIB) will act as a working capital bank, while Attijariwafa Bank will provide an equity bridge loan.

Coming as a part of the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy's push to engage private investors in the country’s energy sector, the Gulf of Suez farm was tendered with a target wind generation capacity of 7GW by 2022.

Located in Ras Ghareb, the wind farm will produce energy that will be sold under a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC).

The total investment in the project is estimated at $400 million. The construction works are scheduled to start this month and are expected to take approximately 27 months.

As of 2014, Egypt has been looking to substantially diversify its energy projects. The mix includes gas-fired and coal-fired projects, alongside a number of solar and wind projects under the BOO model.

Interestingly, around 12 percent of electricity generated by renewable energy will come from new wind farms planned and constructed across the country. Almost half of Egypt’s proposed target of installing an additional 4.3GW will be achieved through wind turbines.