Egypt's state-owned Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) has secured €3.5bn ($4bn) in financing from Deutsche Bank, HSBC and KfW's Ipex Bank to fund the development of three gas power plants, which have a combined capacity of 14.4GW in Egypt.
Deutsche Bank, HSBC and KfW IPEX-Bank are acting as coordinating initial mandated lead arrangers (CIMLAs) for the financing, which has been raised by a consortium of 17 international banks.
The financing will be used for the development of the three natural gas-fired combined cycle power plants, Beni Suef, Burullus and New Capital, each with a capacity of 4.8GW.
In June 2015, Siemens has been awarded €8bn (approximately $9bn) contracts by the Egyptian Government to develop 16.4GW natural gas-fired and wind power projects. The combined cycle power plants will feature Siemens-built H-class turbines.
The projects are expected to boost the country’s power generation capacity by more than 50% to meet the increasing power demand. As part of the deal, Siemens will also build up to 12 wind farms with 2GW capacity in the Gulf of Suez and West Nile areas. The plants will feature 600 turbines.
A rotor blade manufacturing facility will also be constructed by the second half of 2017, in Ain Soukhna region, Egypt. Siemens will train and employ around 1,000 people at the plant.
Earlier, Siemens president and CEO Joe Kaeser said: "With these unprecedented contracts, Siemens and its partners are supporting Egypt’s economic development by using highly efficient natural gas and renewable technologies to create an affordable, reliable and sustainable energy mix for the country’s future."
The financing is being underwritten by German export credit guarantee agency Hermes while the loans are guaranteed by the Egyptian Finance Ministry.
The first tranche of financing was secured in November for the first of the three planned power plants.
Image: A Siemens-built SGT-8000H gas turbine. Photo: courtesy of Siemens AG.