Norwegian renewable energy developer Scatec has moved forward on two PV projects, in Egypt and Botswana.
The company signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Egypt Aluminium for a 1.1GW/200MWh solar-plus-storage project in the country. The USD-denominated deal is backed by an Egyptian sovereign guarantee and Scatec said it expects the project to complete financing and begin construction “within the next 12 months”.
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The project is expected to represent around US$650 million in capital expenditure, approximately 80% of which will be funded by non-recourse debt, Scatec said. The company currently owns 100% of the project but said it will “reduce its long-term economic interest by inviting additional equity partners.”
Egypt Aluminium is the largest industrial electricity consumer in Egypt and exports “approximately 60% of its production” to Europe, Scatec said. The company said Scatec’s solar power would help it to meet the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) which is due to come into force in 2026.
Scatec CEO Terje Pilskog said the solar-plus-storage project is “a groundbreaking project as it is the first utility-scale PPA in the country with an industrial offtaker.”
Egypt has become one of the leading lights of Africa’s solar industry, attracting a number of large-scale PV projects. UAE-based renewables developer AMEA Power commissioned a 500MW PV plant in Egypt in December along with a 25-year PPA with Egypt’s electricity transmission company, Egypt Electricity Transmission Company (EETC).
Africa’s cumulative solar PV capacity grew by 2.5GW in 2024, according to trade body AFSIA Solar, overwhelmingly dominated by additions in Egypt and South Africa. The same report from January saw a “boom” in energy storage capacity across the continent, driven largely by falling prices for stationary storage solutions.
60MW Botswana PV comes online
Scatec also commissioned the first 60MW of a planned 120MW solar PV cluster in Botswana.
The Mmadinare Solar Cluster in central Botswana is under a 25-year PPA with the national utility, the Botswana Power Corporation. Scatec said the remaining 60MW is expected to be online “in the beginning of 2026.”
This is Scatec’s first operational PV plant in Botswana. Back in 2022, PV Tech reported that the company had signed a PPA with the Botswana Power Corporation for a 50MW PV site in the east of the country.
As with the Egypt solar-plus-storage site, Scatec said it intends to reduce its long-term economic interest in the Botswana cluster by inviting “additional equity partners”.
Scatec’s Q3 2024 financial results revealed a strategy of divesting its assets (reducing its ownership or selling projects outright) which saw increased revenues and what Pilskog called increased “financial flexibility”.
