Engie continues to invest in Middle East renewables, as the momentum in US and Europe slows

Engie has reached the 'financial close on a 1.5 Gigawatt solar park, its largest in the world, said the French utility on Monday. The company is stepping up projects in the Middle East, a fast-growing market, amid a slowdown of renewable energy in the U.S.

The Khazna Park is set to start commercial operations in the year 2028. It will provide electricity for 160,000 homes throughout the United Arab Emirates, under a 30-year agreement with Emirates Water and Electricity Company.

The financial closing of a project means that all funding agreements have been signed and the project is now able to spend the money.

Engie has about 25 GW in gas-fired plants, cooling networks and desalination facilities that produce up to 5 million cubic meters of water each day.

The company hopes that the rising?demand for electricity and the abundance of land and sunlight in this region will allow it to quickly reach its?target 95 GW of installed renewable capacity by 2030. This is up from 55 GW currently.

Niko Cornelis said, "This region is key and can play a large role in Engie’s ambitions, given the size of the projects. It will also contribute an important part of our renewables expansion through 2035, because there's a huge amount of demand," on a Monday media call.

Cornelis stated that the company participates in many tenders including those in Saudi Arabia where projects range between 0.5 and 2 GW. European solar tenders are?much larger', he said.

Engie's two early-stage offshore projects in the U.S. have been halted due to President Donald Trump's ban on the sector.

Cornelis stated that the Gulf presents many challenges. There is a lot of competition, as there are so many companies interested in it, and the power prices are low. So we developed an industrial partnership with Chinese?firms LONGi, and PowerChina, to engineer, build, and ensure profitable projects.

Abu Dhabi's state-owned Masdar must hold a 60% stake on all projects. Other countries in the area have similar rules.

The equity in the Khazna project is divided 60/40 by Masdar and Engie. Financing comes from seven international financial institutions, including Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank. Reporting by America Hernandez, Sarah El Safty. (Editing by Louise Heavens, Mark Potter and Mark Potter.

(source: Reuters)