Lekela Power has completed the financial closure of the 250MW Ras Ghareb wind power plant. The project is scheduled to come into operation in 2021.
Faisal Eissa, general manager of Lekela Power in Egypt, said the company has completed the financial closure of the wind power plant funded by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the Private External Investment Company (OPIC).
He explained that Siemens Gamesa will undertake the construction work of the wind power plant after exceeding its technical and financial offer in the tender put forward by Lekela Power.
Daily News Egypt published in June that Lekela Power will complete the financial closure of the Ras Ghareb project in August and that Siemens Gamesa is close to snapping up a tender for a 250MW wind power plant, since the offer was better than that of Senvion and Vestas. The contracts are scheduled to be signed within two months.
The project is part of the government’s plan to implement BOO energy projects, located 30km northwest of Ras Ghareb. The project site benefits from strong wind sources, providing high-capacity factors, and allows the wind station to sell power at a competitive price to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company.
Eissa added that the total capacity of wind energy projects implemented by Lekela Power in Africa amounted to about 1,243MW, including three wind power plants in South Africa with a total capacity of 360MW in the operational phase, and three plants in Senegal and South Africa with a capacity of 408MW in the construction phase, and two wind farms in Egypt and Ghana with a capacity of 475MW in the final stages of development.
Lekela Power ownership structure is distributed among Actis by 60%, while the remaining 40% is owned by a consortium led by Mainstream Renewable Power, which includes investors such as IFC and Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
