France's EDF Renewables Invests $25 Million in Egypt's KarmSolar, Becomes a Strategic Shareholder

After six months of negotiation, EDF Renewables, a subsidiary of EDF Group (Électricité de France) have just partnered with KarmSolar to support the development of distributed solar energy in Egypt. As part of this partnership, sources close to the deal reveal to Startup Scene that EDF is injecting $25 million and in will in turn take strategic equity stake through a reserved capital increase in KarmSolar. 

"This deal gives enough capital to turn KarmSolar's business model from solar development into a fully-fledged solar utility that is capable of carrying out power generation and power trading," KarmSolar's CEO Ahmed Zahran tells Startup Scene in a phone call. "This does not mean we will offshore, this investment is happening in Egypt and we insisted on making it that way to give confidence in the legal infrastructure in the country."

Zahran also adds that by 2020, KarmSolar will be experimenting with new techniques and technologies to push existing knowledge and economies. Currently, KarmSolar boasts a portfolio of around 170 Megawatt of solar plan projects in operation, construction and advanced development of energy, which is a part of the Egyptian government’s efforts of generating 42% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2035. In the next three to five years, Zahran plans to go public in an IPO in Egypt.

For over 10 years, EDF Renewables, which is the French national power company, has been supplying renewable solutions to environmentally-conscious industrial and commercial global clients including Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Yahoo, Nivea, Danone, Coca Cola, Nestle, Tesco, in the United States of America, France, China and most recently, in the United Kingdom.

“This partnership is fully in-line with EDF Renewables’ strategy to offer relevant solutions and helping commercial and industrial customers to achieve their low carbon ambitions through the production and consumption of a competitive renewable energy. North Africa represents a great potential for development,” says Frederic Belloy, Executive Vice President of International Operations at EDF Renewables. 

With one-of-a-kind technical and financial expertise supported by the startup’s in-house research and development team, KarmSolar has its target set on leading the Egyptian energy market with the largest portfolio of solar energy products of power 165 MWp.

“It is envisioned that this investment will also boost the private Egyptian solar market and thus support the government in implementing its vision of becoming a renewable energy hub for the region,” says Amr ElSawaf, Chairman of Karmsolar.