The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a financing package of up to US$66 million for the first phase of the 500 MW Dandara solar project and a 100 MWh battery energy storage system in Qena Governorate, southern Egypt — a project distinguished by the largest private corporate PPA in Egypt and the region.
The package comprises US$46 million from the AfDB's ordinary resources and US$20 million in concessional funding from the Climate Investment Funds' Clean Technology Fund (CTF), with additional debt to be mobilised from a consortium of development finance institutions. Total project cost is estimated at more than US$290 million. The developer is Norway's Scatec, through project vehicle Dandara Solar Power; the broader Dandara programme is designed for 1,000 MW of solar and 200 MWh of storage, built in two equal phases.
Unlike most Egyptian utility-scale projects, the offtaker is not the state transmission company but the Aluminium Company of Egypt (Egyptalum), one of Africa's largest aluminium producers, under a 25-year PPA supported by a wheeling agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC). The battery system will supply renewable power during peak evening demand while mitigating solar variability.
Drivers extend beyond energy economics. The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism took effect in January 2026, and the project is explicitly framed as industrial decarbonisation: enabling Egyptalum to safeguard its European aluminium market share and protect more than 6,000 Egyptian jobs. For developers and suppliers across emerging markets, Dandara is a benchmark for the fast-growing C&I decarbonisation segment — industrial offtakers using renewables-plus-storage to defend export market access.
"As the largest private corporate PPA in Egypt and the region, Dandara will establish an important benchmark for future private investment in industrial decarbonisation and in commercial and industrial renewable energy," said Wale Shonibare, Director of Energy Financial Solutions, Policy, and Regulation at the AfDB.
Developer and programme figures cross-checked against AfDB disclosures and Ecofin reporting, September 2026.