The African Development Bank’s board has approved up to $66 million in financing for the first phase of the 500-megawatt Dandara solar project in Egypt’s Qena governorate, which will include a 100-megawatt-hour battery storage system. The package combines $46 million from the bank’s own resources with $20 million in concessional funding from the Climate Investment Funds’ Clean Technology Fund, with further debt to be raised from a group of development finance institutions; total project cost is put at more than $290 million.

The Aluminium Company of Egypt will be the sole buyer of the plant’s power under a 25-year purchase agreement backed by a wheeling arrangement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company. Once fully operational in early 2028, the plant is expected to generate about 1,373 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually, cut roughly half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, and support around 2,500 construction jobs plus 23 permanent roles, with an emphasis on hiring women and young people.

African Development Bank Vice President Kevin Kariuki said the project would help EgyptAlum protect its European market access and thousands of Egyptian jobs as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, in force since January 2026, reshapes trade in carbon-intensive goods, adding that the plant could avert about 12.5 million tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime. The bank’s Wale Shonibare said the deal, the largest private corporate power agreement of its kind in Egypt and the region, is set to become a benchmark for future private investment in industrial decarbonisation.

Source: allafrica.com