Norway’s Scatec starts work on $700m Egyptian wind farm

Norwegian renewable energy provider Scatec has begun work on the 900MW Shadwan onshore wind project near Egypt’s Red Sea coast.

Scatec secured a $150 million equity bridge loan from the Arab Energy Fund before construction began.

Egypt plans to add 2.5GW of renewable energy capacity to its national grid to meet rising power demand and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

The government launched the Nexus of Water, Food and Energy programme in 2022 to advance its national climate agenda by mobilising climate finance and private investment for the green transition.

The three-year facility allocates $50 million to Shadwan and $100 million to the 1,950MW solar and 3,935 megawatt-hour Bess Energy Valley project, Scatec said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Scatec has signed a joint development agreement with France’s EDF Power Solutions, which will take a 29 percent stake in Shadwan. Additional equity partners will join later.

The $716 million Shadwan project is one of Africa’s largest onshore wind farms, the statement said. It is expected to generate 4 terawatt-hours annually and avoid an estimated 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.

The wind farm will be built in phases, with the first phase expected to reach commercial operation by the end of 2027, the statement added.

Further reading:

• Norwegian renewable energy provider to invest $5bn in Egypt
• Egypt plans global tender for wind energy grid project
• Egypt to increase renewable energy capacity by 2.5GW