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Two of the country’s biggest solar-and-battery projects moved forward this week at very different stages. Contractors at Nefer Minya have started full construction, while Dandara (whose power purchase agreement was signed in March 2025 is still signing preliminary financing terms.
Norway’s Scatec and three development banks signed preliminary financing terms for Dandara on Monday. The banks are the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the African Development Bank (AfDB), according to a Cabinet statement. The document sets out how the project will be funded, but it’s not a loan agreement. Each lender still has to finish due diligence and credit approvals before the money is committed.
The terms cover 1 GW of solar and 200 MWh of batteries at Nagaa Hammadi in Qena at a total cost of about USD 650 mn. The project will be built in two 500 MW phases — each with 100 MWh of storage — and should cover about a third of EgyptAlum’s power needs. That matters for the smelter because the EU’s carbon border tariff took effect in January, and EgyptAlum sends 60% of its output to Europe. Scatec’s new Egypt platform, which the EBRD is backing with up to USD 221 mn, expects to hold about 60% of the first phase.
The same signing ceremony yielded two more agreements: a grid connection pact between the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), EgyptAlum parent Metallurgical Industries Holding, and Dandara Solar, alongside an undisclosed equity investment by the National Bank of Egypt.
Money and cranes
Full construction is underway in West Minya, after the owners signed the notice to proceed (pdf) for EPC on 1.2 GWp of solar and 600 MWh of storage. A joint venture of Hassan Allam Construction and Sterling & Wilson is building it, after early works began in June, and commercial operation is due in September 2027. The plant should produce enough power for about 1.4 mn homes and avoid 1.59 mn tons of CO2 a year.
The money behind it closed last week: The project signed its PPA in November 2025, and the EBRD, alongside a group of development lenders, arranged a USD 566 mn debt package, of which it leads USD 265 mn: USD 160 mn of its own, a USD 75 mn B-loan from Bank of Jordan, and up to USD 30 mn in concessional finance. The rest comes from DEG, FMO, and Proparco, against a 25-year agreement to sell power to the EETC.
Both projects lean on the EBRD and 25-year PPAs, but they sell into different places. Dandara powers an exporter that sells into Europe. Nefer Minya sells to the grid and uses its battery to move midday output into the evening peak. Neither battery is big enough to run the plant overnight: 200 MWh against 1 GW at Dandara and 600 MWh against 1.2 GWp at Nefer Minya. What separates them now is timing. Dandara has been collecting preliminary commitments since October 2025; Nefer Minya has its money and its cranes.
