Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for Actis Project Blade Wind Far (DFC-ACTIS)

Regions
  • Middle East and North Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Egypt
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Jabal Elzyt Wind Farm, Wadi Dar Al Zaraey, Ras Ghareb, Gulf of Suez, Red Sea Governorate
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
Actis Long Life Infrastructure Fund
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Technical Cooperation
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Amount (USD)
Not Disclosed
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Media Documents
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ DFC website

Updated in EWS Dec 26, 2023

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated on the project summary disclosed by the DFC, the proposed project involves DFC financing and political risk insurance for the acquisition and operation of a 580 MW brownfield wind power plant. The plant includes 290 wind turbines each with a capacity of 2 MW and a height of 100 meters. Egypt's New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) currently owns the plant, which was built in three phases, the first of which began commercial operations in 2018.
Operations and maintenance will continue to be carried out by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. The plant provides power to the national grid via a substation and transmission lines, and the project will sell power under the terms of a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company.

The project site is approximately 46 km2 on land owned by the Government of Egypt in an arid desert area with sparse vegetation. The site is located approximately 30 km south of Ras Ghareb, and there are no residents within 10 km.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

People Affected By This Project
People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Investment information not provided at the time of disclosure.

Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actor Relationship
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated on the company's website, Actis is a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure.

As stated by Bloomberg, Lekela Power provides renewable energy generation equipment. The Company offers wind and solar energy equipment. Lekela Power serves customers worldwide. As stated on Actis' website, Actis established Lekela in 2015 to deliver clean, reliable energy across Africa. Together with our joint investment partner Mainstream Renewable Power Africa Holdings, we built the business into Africa’s largest pure play renewable energy Independent Power Producer. The platform consists of more than 1 GW of fully operational wind assets, including five operational wind farms in South Africa, one in Egypt, another in Senegal, as well as development opportunities in Ghana, Senegal and Egypt.

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, S.A. designs and manufactures renewable energy equipment. The Company offers wind turbines, turbine gearboxes, offgrid, and other related equipment, as well as provides maintenance and reconditioning services. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy serves industrial facility management, automotive industry, and new technology development worldwide.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA Contractor Energy contracts with Lekela Egypt Wind Power BOO S.A.E. Client Energy

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Project contacts not provided at the time of disclosure.

Financial Intermediary - Actis Long Life Infrastructure Fund:

Address: Suite 405, Galleria 40 East Tower, El-Sheikh Zayed, Giza, 12461, Egypt
Email: info@act.is
Phone: +20237966044-48
Website: https://www.act.is/about-us/sectors/long-life-infrastructure/

Client - Lekela Power:

Website: https://lekela.com/

Contractor - Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA:

Address: Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy Parque Tecnológico de Bizkaia, Edificio 222 48170, Zamudio, Vizcaya Spain
Email: info@siemensgamesa.com
Phone: +34 944 03 73 52
Website: https://www.siemensgamesa.com/en-int

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Unlike many other development finance institutions, DFC does not currently have an access to information policy.

Under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), DFC is obliged to respond to reasonably formulated requests for Agency records. However, DFC may apply exemptions from release to certain types of information and may charge fees in responding to requests. DFC has a designated FOIA officer who is trained in how to respond to requests and implement the law. You can learn more about filing a FOIA request at: https://www.dfc.gov/foia

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION (DFC)

The Office of Accountability is an independent office that addresses complaints about environmental or social issues related to DFC-supported projects. The office provides communities an opportunity to have concerns independently reviewed and addressed. If you submit a complaint to the Office of Accountability, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a problem solving dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the DFC complied with its policies to prevent environmental, social, human rights, and labor harms.

You can find more information about the Office of Accountability at: https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/office-accountability

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How it works