Egypt’s Minya Province to Gain Africa’s Largest Solar Complex in $265 Million Financing Package

A $265 million financing package will fund construction of a 1.2 GW solar farm paired with a 600 MWh battery system in Egypt’s Minya province — a scale that would make it the largest solar facility on the African continent. EBRD anchors the deal with $160 million in direct lending, joined by $75 million from the Bank of Jordan and up to $30 million in concessional capital from the Climate Investment Funds.

The borrowing entity is Nefer Menya, a consortium formed by pan-African developer Infinity Power and Egyptian engineering firm Hassan Allam Utilities. Electricity generated at the site will be sold to Egypt’s state transmission operator EETC under a 25-year power purchase agreement.

Co-located battery storage will allow solar power to be dispatched during peak demand hours — an increasingly important feature as Egypt expands its renewables base. EBRD Director for Natural Resources and Energy Aida Sitdikova said that integrating storage directly at the generation site will ease system balancing as solar output grows during peak periods.

The Minya complex is six times larger in generation capacity and five times larger in storage capacity than an earlier EBRD-supported Egyptian project: a 200 MW solar plant with 120 MWh of storage financed at $65 million. The new facility is one of several solar-plus-storage projects across Egypt that also includes developments by Norway’s Scatec and UAE-based AMEA Power.

Source: PV-Tech