The country’s fossil fuel imports and production efforts may be leading the conversation at the moment, but investor appetite for renewables is still strong, with numerous stories coming in over the long weekend of investors — both local and foreign — willing to put their money where their mouths are.

Refresher:The government wants to see 3-4 GW-worth of renewable energy projects go live and start feeding the national grid by next summer to fill the energy supply gap. This push is part of a broader plan to secure the country’s energy needs amid declining natural gas production and expanding electricity interconnection projects to enable exports to surrounding countries. In the longer run, the state aims to add 28 GW of renewable energy to the country’s energy mix over the next five to seven years.

UPPER EGYPT TO GET NEW SOLAR, BATTERY PROJECT COURTESY OF AMEA-

AMEA to funnel another USD 800 mn into our renewables sector: UAE’s AMEAPower will invest USD 800 mn to develop two renewable energy projects in Upper Egypt after inking new purchase power agreements (PPAs) with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) on Thursday, according to a company statement.

The projects: The agreements will see AMEA develop a 1 GW solar power plant with 600 MWh battery storage system in Benban — expected to be Africa’s largest — and add 300 MWh of battery storage to its existing 500 MWAbydossolar power plant currently under construction in Kom Ombo.

Greening the economy: The two projects will provide renewable energy to over 769.8k homes, offsetting more than 2.3 mn tons of carbon emissions annually, and are expected to create around 2.5k jobs during peak construction.

A first for Egypt: AMEA, along with Norwegian renewables developer Scatec, are the first developers to undertake hybrid solar and battery projects in the country.

This will double AMEA’s solar and wind generation capacity: The two projects will double the company’s total capacity in the country to 2 GW of solar and wind projects — in addition to introducing a fresh 900 MWh worth of battery energy storage systems. Aside from its 500 MW Abydos solar plant, AMEA is also working on a 500 MW wind farm in Ras Ghareb dubbed Amunet.

The timelines: The Abydos solar plant is due to be completed by October, while the Amunet wind farm will be completed by 3Q 2025.

AND THE LA ON A NUMBER OF BREWING RENEWABLES PROJECTS-

#1- OC-Led consortium sets the wheels in motion on wind farm expansion: A consortium of Orascom Construction, Toyota Tsusho, and Engie inked a land usufruct agreement and a PPA with the EETC and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) for a project that will see the consortium add 150 MW of wind energy capacity to its 500 MW wind farm in the Gulf of Suez, according to a cabinet statement.

The timeline: The first 250 MW phase of the wind project is expected to go live in the last month of the year, begin feeding the national grid by Q3 2025, and wrap up the 150 MW extension by Q3 2025, the company said in a statement (pdf).

By the numbers: Once complete, the wind farm will reduce carbon emissions by 1.3 mn tons every year and provide power to over 1 mn homes.

#2- Inching closer to Scatec’s hybrid solar and battery storage project: Norway’s Scatec inked a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company EETC for its planned 1 GW solar and 100-200 MWh battery storage hybrid project in Egypt, it said on Thursday. The agreement was denominated in USD, the company said, without disclosing its value.

What’s next? Scatec is expected to break ground on the project in 1H 2025. It has signed a mandate letter for concessional financing with a number of development banks and will work on securing the funds as well as finalizing land lease and grid connection agreements.

#3- Fertiglobe is one step closer to its green ammonia export dreams: A consortium of Scatec, Fertiglobe, and Orascom Construction has inked two land usufruct agreements with EETC and NREA to set up a wind and a solar power plant that will feed their USD 500 mn green hydrogen plant. The green hydrogen is slated to come online in 2027. Cabinet approved the usufruct rights earlier this month.

The bigger picture: The green hydrogen plant — being set up by the consortium with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt and the EETC — will provide the green hydrogen needed for Fertiglobe to produce green ammonia at its ammonia plants. The green ammonia will then be exported to the EU under an offtake agreement with Germany’s H2Global.

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