ENGIE Africa announced that construction and commissioning of the 262.5 MW Ras Ghareb wind farm in Egypt is complete – 45 days ahead of schedule. The wind farm is now fully connected to the grid and is ready for commercial operation at maximum capacity.
The project company, Ras Ghareb Wind Energy SAE is owned by ENGIE (40%) and its consortium partners Toyota Tsusho Corporation/Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation (40%) and Orascom Construction (20%). The wind farm is located near Ras Ghareb on the Gulf of SUEZ, an optimal site with about 60% of gross capacity factor. The energy is sold under a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC). The total investment cost of the project is approximately $380 million.
Ras Ghareb Wind Energy is the first wind farm tendered on a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) scheme and is part of the Egyptian government’s drive to increase the share of renewables in the energy mix with a target wind generation capacity of 7 GW by 2022.
Yoven Moorooven, CEO of ENGIE Africa commented: “There is a huge potential for low-cost renewable energy in Africa. We are honored that the Egyptian authorities have selected the ENGIE consortium to be part of their strategic energy plan. ENGIE’s clean energy solutions are based on competitiveness, reliability and safety. Ras Ghareb Wind Energy has been developed with a continuous focus on Health and Safety and is completely in line with ENGIE’s ambition in the zero-carbon transition. We are committed to apply the same standards with the same success for the adjacent 500 MW wind farm that is being developed by this consortium.”
The consortium arranged non-recourse project financing from The Japan Bank for International Corporation (JBIC) in coordination with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Société Générale under a Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) cover. Commercial International Bank (CIB) Egypt is acting as working capital bank and Attijariwafa Bank provided an equity bridge loan for Orascom Construction.
With its global references in areas such as facility management, gas distribution, cold networks or green mobility, ENGIE is also keen to develop its service activities and energy solutions for smart cities in Egypt.