Norwegian independent power producer (IPP) Scatec has started commercial operations at the second and final phase of its gigawatt-scale Obelisk solar-plus-storage project in Egypt.
The project consists of 1.1GW of solar PV capacity, co-located with a 100MW/200MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), and was brought online in two phases. Scatec started operations at the BESS component and 561MW of the project’s solar capacity in February and has confirmed the remaining 564MW of solar capacity is now also online. The electricity generated by the project will be sold to Egypt Aluminium under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) that has already been announced.
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“Completing Africa’s largest hybrid solar and battery installation demonstrates our ability to develop, finance, and deliver large-scale renewable energy projects in emerging markets,” said Scatec CEO Terje Pilskog.
Scatec has described the project as Egypt’s largest solar-plus-storage project. It is also the company’s largest single solar project in Egypt, ahead of a 390MW project completed in 2019 that forms part of the mammoth 1.8GW Benban standalone solar project, Egypt’s largest. Scatec plans to add a further 4.3GW of renewable energy capacity and 4.1GWh of BESS in Egypt, which the company called one of its “most important long-term growth markets”.
In May, the National Bank of Egypt bought a 20% equity stake in the Obelisk project. With Norfund and EDF Power Solutions already holding 20% stakes, this deal reduced Scatec’s share of the project to 40%, but the IPP remains the largest single shareholder.
Egypt has seen a number of solar-plus-storage projects, in particular, advance this year. In June, Chinese cell and module manufacturer Aiko signed a module supply deal for Infinity Power’s 1.2GW Nefer Menya solar-plus-storage project, which is currently under development; and in April, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) extended a loan to HAU Energy to build a 200MW solar-plus-storage project in the country.
The EBRD was one of several banks and financial organisations to invest US$479 million into the Obelisk project earlier this summer.
