ENGIE Africa consortium begins operation of Egypt’s first largest wind farm
ENGIE Africa has announced that the construction and commissioning of the 262.5 MW Ras Ghareb wind farm in Egypt is complete 45 days ahead of schedule. The wind farm is now fully connected to the grid and is ready for commercial operation at maximum capacity.
November 4, 2019: ENGIE Africa has announced that the construction and commissioning of the 262.5 MW Ras Ghareb wind farm in Egypt is complete 45 days ahead of schedule. The wind farm is now fully connected to the grid and is ready for commercial operation at maximum capacity.
The project company, Ras Ghareb Wind Energy SAE is owned by ENGIE (40 percent) and its consortium partners Toyota Tsusho Corporation/Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation (40 percent) and Orascom Construction (20 percent). The wind farm is located near Ras Ghareb on the Gulf of Suez, an optimal site with about 60 percent of gross capacity factor. The energy is sold under a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC). The total investment cost of the project is approximately $380 million.
Ras Ghareb Wind Energy is the first wind farm tendered on a build-own-operate (BOO) scheme and is part of the Egyptian government’s drive to increase the share of renewables in the energy mix with a target wind generation capacity of 7 GW by 2022.
Yoven Moorooven, CEO of ENGIE Africa commented, “There is a huge potential for low-cost renewable energy in Africa. We are honoured that the Egyptian authorities have selected the ENGIE consortium to be part of their strategic energy plan. ENGIE’s clean energy solutions are based on competitiveness, reliability and safety. Ras Ghareb Wind Energy has been developed with a continuous focus on Health and Safety and is completely in line with ENGIE’s ambition in the zero-carbon transition. We are committed to apply the same standards with the same success for the adjacent 500 MW wind farm that is being developed by this consortium.”
The consortium arranged non-recourse project financing from the Japan Bank for International Corporation (JBIC) in coordination with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Société Générale under a Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) cover. Commercial International Bank (CIB) Egypt is acting as working capital bank and Attijariwafa Bank provided an equity bridge loan for Orascom Construction.
With its global references in areas such as facility management, gas distribution, cold networks or green mobility, ENGIE is also keen to develop its service activities and energy solutions for smart cities in Egypt.
ENGIE’s ambition is to become a world leader in a competitive “as a service” zero-carbon transition and the Group is focusing on renewables to accelerate the energy transition. With 93 percent of its businesses low-carbon, ENGIE has set a target of developing 9 GW of additional renewable capacity by 2021, and intends to invest approximately €2.5 billion in the sector.
