Financial close for the 1.8 GW Hamriyah gas-fired power project in Sharjah

Co-developers GE Energy Financial Services (GE EFS) and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation (Sumitomo) along with Shikoku Electric Power Company and Sharjah Asset Management (SAM), the investment arm of the Government of Sharjah, have closed financing from leading private financial institutions and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan’s export credit agency (ECA), for GE’s flagship 1.8 GW power project, Hamriyah Independent Power Company project, in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Securing financing for the Project will lead to the first independent combined cycle power project in the emirate of Sharjah, which is expected to be the most efficient power plant in the Middle East’s utilities sector on completion. 

Together, a consortium of banks and JBIC will co-finance the Project for a total private-public co-financing amount of approximately US$1.0 billion. GE EFS worked with multiple private financial institutions including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Limited, Norinchukin Bank, Société Générale S.A., Standard Chartered Bank and KfW-IPEX to secure financing, which will be partly insured by Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), a Japanese insurance corporation owned by the Japanese government. JBIC will provide a second tranche under its ‘Global Facility to Promote Quality Infrastructure Investment for Environmental Preservation and Sustainable Growth’ (QI-ESG), a new initiative launched by the government of Japan in summer 2018 to promote infrastructure development projects that are expected to contribute to global environmental protection.

Simultaneously, the co-developers have formed an equity consortium for the Project with Shikoku Electric Power Company and SAM. The consortium’s role will be to build, own and operate the Project, which will consist of three combined cycle blocks, the first of which is planned to come online in 2021. The Project is expected to reach full commercial operations by the summer of 2023 and will sell its electricity production to SEWA under a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

GE will supply three 9HA gas turbines, three steam turbines, six generators, three heat recovery steam generators (HRSG) and turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for its flagship power plant in Sharjah. GE will also provide parts, repairs and maintenance services for the power generation assets at the site for a period of 25 years.