Abydos I BESS

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The proposed investment seeks to support a 300 Mega Watt Hour (MWh) Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) expansion into the 500MW solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power plant, located in Aswan Governorate in Egypt. The 500 MW PV was financed by IFC in 2022 under Abydos Solar project (Abydos I and together with Abydos I BESS, the Project). The project will be owned and executed by AMEA Power Ltd. (“AMEA” or “Company”). Abydos I PV was commissioned on November 29, 2024.The project will be the first BESS installed in Egypt for load shifting, allowing the dispatch of valuable Renewable Energy (RE) during peak consumption hours at night. The objective of the BESS is to store energy during the day, prioritizing grid-clipped energy, and dispatch this energy at night, when the solar PV Project would not be operational. The BESS capacity will be 100 MWh for 1-hour storage, and up to 400 MWh for 4-hour storage. It will be fully integrated within the existing Abydos I Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and executed by the same Engineering Procurement Contractor (EPC) and financed by the same group of lenders.The project cost is estimated at US$80mm with IFC portion being a proposed (i) A Loan of US$30mm; (ii) US$19 million from IFC as implementing entity of IFC-managed blended finance programs, and (ii) interest rate swap LEQs at c. US$2mm.The project constitutes a brownfield expansion of 2,000 – 4,000 m2 (0.2 – 0.4 hectares) within the existent Abydos I project boundary. No additional land take is required. Construction activities for the BESS expansion Project are expected to start in December 2024 and be completed within 6 months.