01 April 2017

Greenfield activities continued to dominate power and utility transactions in Middle East and Africa  (MEA), attracting $8.7 billion in investment last year, said a report by EY.

Also, mergers and acquisitions in the renewables sector picked up after a long period of slow activity, EY said in its report titled ‘Power transactions and trends: 2016 review and 2017 outlook.’

Key announcements in the last quarter of 2016 included the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development co-ordinating a debt financing of $115.5 million to set up a desalination plant in Egypt.

Additionally, in the UAE, a consortium of lenders including Islamic Development Bank, Natixis, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, and First Gulf Bank invested $924 million to build the 800-MW third phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.

The UAE also saw new projects across coal, nuclear and solar, funded by both local and Asian investors, to support its raised renewable energy target from 24 to 26 per cent to help fight climate change. Separately, Dubai launched a $27-billion green fund to support global sustainability projects.

David Lloyd, Middle East power and utilities transactions leader at EY, said: “In 2016, we saw the continuing successful deployment of the independent power producer (IPP) model to procure new generating capacity, for both conventional and renewable energy.”

According to EY, the focus this year will be on the Saudi renewable energy programme.

• $3bn Kuwait bridge on track for 2018 opening
• $8.7bn spent on power, utilities
• Mena eyes $1trn energy investments in five years
• Siemens celebrates Egypt milestone
• $2.2bn pumped into Sezad
• New Genies well received
• Hempel inaugurates new factory in Kuwait
• Qatar’s first RO unit nearly ready
• SSH venture wins hospital deal
• Sarens Nass orders 15 Demag cranes
• 1,000 rooms for resort on way
• Bahrain causeway work to begin in Q2
• Six in race for Oman IWP
• Work begins on key Oman retail hub
• ACTS wins stadiums deal
• In brief

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