Hassan Allam Utilities secures USD 65 mn EBRD loan for Benban solar plant

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a USD 65 mn bridge loan to Hassan Allam Utilities subsidiary HAU Energy, according to a statement. The financing will cover the construction of Nefer Benban — a 200 MW solar facility and a 120 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) near Aswan — which is expected to come online in the second half of this year.

IN CONTEXT- The Nefer Benbanfacility is part of a larger 1.2 GW solar power and 720 MWh battery complex. Infinity Power and Hassan Allam Utilities Energy Platform signed agreements with the Electricity Ministry and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company last November for the wider project.

The loan is just one piece of EBRD’s USD 1.4-1.5 bn investment ticket for Egypt this year, with at least 40% of it — roughly USD 600 mn — funneled towards green projects, EBRD’s Hashem Abd El Hakim, EBRD’s deputy head of Egypt for financial institutions, told us last month. “We are trying to do capital market transactions like bonds and SLLs, like last year, to attract more international investors to enter Egypt across those sectors,” he added.

The BESS is the critical component here. Energy storage on a utility-scale is a new theme in Egypt’s green economy: It gives solar producers the ability to store energy generated during the day and release it into the grid during peak hours or overnight. And with the regional energy equation thrown into question by the war in the Gulf, projects like Benban will be important in helping Egypt “enhance resilience to external shocks” by diversifying our energy mix, EBRD’s Director of Sustainable Infrastructure for the region, Aida Sitdikova. said in the statement.

Work on Nefer Benban is already underway: HAU awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract last month to Hassan Allam Construction. The contractor rapidly mobilized, signingdownstream agreements with GameChange Solar for its Genius Tracker system and with China’s Sineng Electric to supply 249 MW of central inverters.