“It serves as a template,” Mortada told pv magazine. “It’s not a one-off.”
The EBRD has financed more than 25 renewable energy projects in Egypt under a contractual framework developed jointly with the Egyptian government in 2016 and 2017, designed from the outset to meet international bankability standards. The Obelisk structure follows that framework: a sovereign-backed, 25-year US dollar-denominated power purchase agreement (PPA) with Egyptian Electricity Transmission Co. (EETC), with battery energy storage system (BESS) dispatch incorporated into the contracted structure, and a termination payment regime covering outstanding debt in the event of buyer default.
The Obelisk solar-plus-storage project in Nagaa Hammadi, Upper Egypt – a 1.1 GW solar plant integrated with a 200 MWh BESS – reached financial close in June 2025. The EBRD provided up to $173.5 million, of which $101.9 million benefited from a European Fund for Sustainable Development first-loss cover guarantee. The African Development Bank (AfDB) provided $184.1 million, structured across four financing windows including the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa and the Clean Technology Fund, according to the June 15, 2025 joint announcement by the three lenders – the AfDB figures have not been independently verified against the full primary release.
