Scatec reaches full commercial operations on 1.1 GW Obelisk hybrid solar project

Norwegian renewable energy developer Scatec brought the rest of its 1.1-GW Obelisk solar-and-battery project in Nagaa Hammadi fully online. The USD 600 mn project’s second and final phase added 564 MW of solar capacity, Scatec said in a statement. The company calls Obelisk Africa’s largest hybrid solar-and-battery project.

Built in two phases: The first phase, which combines 561 MW of solar capacity with the total 100 MW / 200 MWh BESS, was inaugurated in January 2026 before officially reaching its commercial operations date in February 2026. The plant is connected to the national grid via 220 kV transmission lines, constructed under a contract signed in April 2025 between the state-owned Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) and a consortium of Kharafi National and Power Ring.

The full project is expected to generate more than 3 TWh of clean electricity annually, which EETC will purchase under a 25-year, USD-denominated power purchase agreement signed back in November 2024.

The ownership stack: Scatec de-risked the asset through construction before selling down its equity. Prior to dilution, Scatec covered 80% of capex with non-recourse debt from a consortium of development finance institutions. Post-construction, it offloaded 20% operating stakes each to NBE, Norfund, and EDF Power Solutions. This leaves Scatec with a 40% operating interest and a 75% holding stake, preserving its controlling operator rights.

The footprint: Obelisk, alongside the 380 MW Benban solar plant, takes Scatec’s operating renewable capacity in Egypt to some 1.5 GW, with a near-term pipeline including another 4.3 GW of renewable capacity and 4.1 GWh of battery storage. The company is earmarking USD 5 bn for future investments — a figure that does not include Obelisk.

A new Red Sea breeze

The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) will buy the electricity generated by French developer Voltalia’s planned Zafarana wind farm at USD 0.024 per kWh under a 20-year power purchase agreement, according to an unnamed government official. The 869-MW project is expected to cost USD 800 mn and cover 120 sq km on the Red Sea coast, with commercial operations committed for December 2028, according to a cabinet statement.

The land terms are murky. A second government official said Voltalia secured the right to use the land in exchange for the equivalent of 2% of the project’s electricity output, while the cabinet’s statement said Voltalia would pay USD 53 mn, without explaining what the payment covers or how it relates to the arrangement.

No one has explained the capacity difference, either. Voltalia and Taqa Arabia’s original November 2024 MoU with the EETC proposed 1.1 GW of wind at Zafarana, as part of a wider 3.2 GW hybrid complex that also included 2.1 GW of solar, and Voltalia later said the wider project would cost more than USD 2 bn. The planned wind plant is now short of that target, and there was no explanation for what happened to the difference or whether this is the wind component in full, a phase of a larger build-out, or a separate project.