The package combines a €600-million (~$695.4 million) loan from EIB Global, the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) development arm, with up to €90 million (~$104.3 million) in grants by the European Commission. The ElB Group is the EU’s financing arm.
Led by the state-owned Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), this project aims at integrating a total of 22 gigawatts (GW) of renewable-energy capacity into the grid by 2030, enough to supply around 10 million households with electricity.
Egypt and the EU are deepening their renewable energy partnership with a financing package of up to $799.75 million to upgrade and expand the former’s electricity network.
The package combines a $695.4-million loan from EIB Global, with up to $104.3 million in grants by the European Commission.
The project aims at integrating 22 GW of renewable-energy capacity into the grid by 2030.
The investment supports national energy priorities and the ambition to expand renewable energy, strengthen electricity infrastructure and enhance the country’s role as a regional energy hub, a release from the European Commission said.
It also advances the objectives of the EU-Egypt Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership, including investment mobilisation, renewable energy cooperation and the transition to a more sustainable, secure and competitive energy system.
The project is one of the first concrete operations under the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy and Clean-Tech Cooperation Initiative, (T-MED), a flagship of the Pact for the Mediterranean, to support renewable energy and clean-tech cooperation between the European Union and its southern Mediterranean partners.
The programme includes the construction of state-of-the-art substations and the installation of advanced transmission lines to integrate solar and wind power generated in the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez regions into the national grid.
The investments are expected to reduce transmission losses, improve electricity reliability, strengthen energy security and support sustainable economic development. These will also contribute to regional electricity cooperation and future clean-energy trade and integration across the Mediterranean.
The EU financing package represents 44 per cent of the total cost of the programme, with the remaining financing provided by EETC’s own funds.
The EIB-supported phase will be carried out between 2027 and 2030. The government will act as borrower through the Central Bank of Egypt, while EETC will lead implementation as part of wider efforts to modernise the national electricity system.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
