​​Egypt’s battery push leans on development lenders and Chinese factories

Egypt plans to raise its battery storage from c. 500 MWh currently to 13.85 GWh by 2030 and is targeting USD 3 bn of investment to get there, a senior government official tells us. Storage matters because the grid can’t yet absorb new capacity, the official says, but a developer and an analyst we spoke to see less of a grid constraint. And on investment, every storage project we tracked with a disclosed debt package has a development lender in it, and Chinese partners are behind most of the battery factories announced so far.

Storage is the next challenge for a plan that would add 20.8 GW of renewables by 2030, the official says, adding that operating renewable capacity stands at some 9.6 GW. The government has also moved its renewables target forward to 45% by 2028 from 42% by 2030. The grid can’t yet absorb new capacity, the official says, but it is expanding, and batteries store surplus power and return it when needed.

Diala Hawila, head of programs at energy think tank Carboun, sees storage as one tool among several. Drawing on off-grid markets such as those in Lebanon, she tells us “grid capacity does not create the main bottleneck” and says storage has to come alongside demand-side management and efficiency.

Scatec says curtailment, or wasted renewable output, hasn’t been an issue so far in Egypt, Vice President of Business Development in Egypt Mahmoud Shata tells us. He doesn’t expect that to change soon, because renewable power saves the government imported liquefied natural gas.

A target gives suppliers and financiers confidence, but “a target on its own doesn’t do anything” without policies and procurement mechanisms behind it, Hawila says. The right amount of storage depends on curtailment analysis, energy and economic modeling, demand, and demand-side measures, she adds. The storage buildout will follow renewables, Shata says, adding that as long as the government keeps adding renewable capacity, it will add batteries to back it. The ministry has yet to publish a 2028 demand forecast, capacity factors, or expected curtailment, as we reported in August.

The government is targeting USD 3 bn of investment in storage, the official says. The government now requires investors behind every new renewables project to study adding storage, the official adds. The requirement follows the independent power producer model, in which a private developer finances, builds, and operates a plant, then sells its power under a long-term contract.

Development lenders in every stack: Nefer Minya pairs about 1 GW of solar with 600 MWh of storage and has up to USD 566 mn in debt, about three-quarters of its USD 764 mn cost, we reported in October. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) leads with a USD 160 mn loan and up to USD 30 mn in concessional Clean Technology Fund money, and Bank of Jordan adds USD 75 mn, the bank said. Germany’s DEG, the Dutch FMO, and France’s Proparco provide the rest, we reported.

All of Dandara’s phase-one project debt comes from development banks. The 569 MW solar plant with 100 MWh of storage has USD 217 mn in loans from the EBRD, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the European Investment Bank, c. 80% of its USD 271 mn capex, Scatec said in October.

Obelisk, now fully running, was financed the same way. The EBRD, the AfDB, and British International Investment were set to provide USD 479.1 mn, c. 80% of the USD 590 mn cost of the 1.1 GW solar plant with 200 MWh of storage, the EBRD said in 2025. Amea’s Abydos II (600 MWh) carries c. USD 570 mn in debt led by the International Finance Corporation, Amea said in December 2025.

The EBRD is also becoming a shareholder. It agreed to take a 40% stake in a Scatec platform holding stakes in Obelisk, Dandara, and Energy Valley, among others, committing up to USD 221 mn, we reported in October. Scatec says Energy Valley, with 3.9 GWh of storage, has mandate letters with development lenders and should reach financial close by the end of 2026. One plan names no lender: the Electricity Ministry said in August that a separate 4 GWh standalone storage plan will run on EGP financing.

On equipment, the official expects more Chinese investment, saying the global energy crisis may bring more Chinese firms to move manufacturing out of China. Among the plants we’ve reported on, Sungrow is building a 10 GWh-a-year plant in Sokhna. Emirati developer Amea is planning a 3 GWh-a-year plant with Gotion, and local firm Kemet is planning a 5 GWh-a-year cell factory with Cornex. Carmaker-backed BME’s plant will use cells from China’s CATL. Russia’s Rosatom, which plans to assemble up to 500 MWh a year with local firm Teletech, is the only one without a Chinese partner.

Scatec tenders its batteries project by project. Scatec runs a tender for each project among suppliers “whether these battery suppliers are in Egypt or in China,” as long as they bring technology and experience from reputable global manufacturers, Shata says. Lenders look at a supplier’s track record, technical specifications, and warranties, he explains. They also want the supplier to pass supply-chain due diligence, including on how the batteries are made, he adds.

Easiest to cut: Relying on partners for either finance or technology is “the most dangerous thing,” Hawila says, and “financing being cut is the easiest thing that can happen.” Foreign-currency borrowing also gets more expensive for Egypt over time as the EGP depreciates, she adds. Obelisk’s 25-year power contract is USD-denominated and carries sovereign backing, the EBRD said. Dandara’s power contract has the same state backing, Scatec said.

Egyptian power contracts usually pay developers mostly in USD, Shata says. A smaller EGP share covers local costs such as contractors and purchases. A contract fully in EGP is “doable,” he says, adding that “it’s just a matter of pricing the risk.” But it would need EGP loans, which he calls “quite expensive” after the central bank’s latest rate hike, and could cost the government more than a USD contract. Matching a contract’s currency to its financing avoids a huge currency risk that neither developers nor lenders want, he adds.