Egypt's Orascom Construction has signed a 25% stake in a 500 MW wind power project in Ras Ghareb, Egypt. Orascom joins French giant Engie and Japanese Toyota Tsusho Corporation/Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation.
It’s official. Orascom Construction will participate in a 500 MW wind power project in the Gulf of Suez in Egypt. This new development has just been approved by the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC). The project is being implemented under a BOOT (Build, Own, Operate, Transfer) arrangement, a specific form of public-private partnership (PPP), and is being carried out by the French giant Engie and the Japanese Toyota Tsusho Corporation/Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation.
The three partners are developing the project through Red Sea Wind Energy, a company set up to produce wind power in the Gulf of Suez. The 500 MW wind project is still in the financial mobilization phase. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is promising to support the construction of the wind farm with a $50 million loan. But the European bank is making its financing conditional on the implementation of an active turbine management program (ATMP) and a wind turbine shutdown program to avoid impacts on birds.
Continued collaboration
This is a necessity in this region regularly crossed by migratory birds leaving Europe to spend the winter in Africa. After the financial mobilization phase, Orascom Construction estimates that the construction phase of the Ras Ghareb wind farm should last 30 months. “We are proud to continue delivering another project that will contribute to Egypt’s sustainable energy development. This project also underscores our strategy to continue investing in infrastructure that creates new construction opportunities with long-term recurring revenues,” said Osama Bishai, CEO of Orascom Construction.
Read also- EGYPT: Engie and its partners inaugurate their wind farm in Ras Ghareb
The Engie-Toyota Tsusho Corporation/Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation-Orascom Construction consortium has already successfully implemented a 262.5 MW wind project in Ras Ghareb. The facility commissioned in 2019 was built with financial support from the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Société Générale Commercial Banks, Commercial International Bank (CIB) and Attijariwafa Bank.
Jean Marie Takouleu
