AMEA Power in talks for US$265mn debt financing for 500 MW Abydos solar project

Dubai-based renewables developer AMEA Power is in talks to secure up to US$265 million debt financing to develop its 500 MW Abydos solar photovoltaic project in Aswan Governate in Egypt. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), providing advisory support to the project, will provide up to US$100 million from its own account and the remaining debt of up to, US$165.0 million, will be provided by a mix of parallel Lenders and B Lenders. 

The project is still in the design stage and is expected to be completed within 18 months after groundbreaking under a turnkey, fixed price Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract.  The proposed plant is a utility-grade grid-connected PV array power system, carried on a horizontal single-axis beam tracker, consisting of approximately 1 million, bifacial crystalline PV panels with anti-reflective coating. The preliminary design indicates that the plant will include central inverter stations, converting direct current from the panels to alternating current, and a substation, converting to the appropriate voltage for connection directly to the national grid with no storage batteries required.  Connection to the grid will be through a 10.1 km overhead transmission line constructed and operated by the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company.  The plant will also include ancillary structures like office and data control buildings, warehouses and workshops, and internal roads; the plant will be completely fenced.  Access to the site is via a short connection to the existing Luxor-Aswan highway running north-south about 1.5km from the site's east boundary.

The EPC contractor is yet to be selected while construction activities are expected to commence in the first quarter of 2022.  The plant is anticipated to be operational for 25 years.