Egypt’s Minister of Industry laid the foundation stone at Sungrow’s battery energy storage system (BESS) factory site in the Suez Canal Economic Zone earlier this week.
Khaled Hashem and two other government ministers were among the dignitaries in attendance as a ceremony was held on 17 August to mark the start of construction at Chinese solar PV inverter and battery storage system manufacturer Sungrow’s new factory.
An official Egyptian government announcement noted that this would be the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region’s “first specialised” facility for manufacturing BESS, representing a total investment worth US$50 million.
It is also expected to create over 100 jobs, which, according to the statement, will be sourced from local talent in manufacturing, production and technology.
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Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) General Authority chairman Mostafa Sheikhoun said at the event that the production plant would be a significant addition to Egypt’s industrial sector while supporting the expansion of new and renewable energy projects.
SCZONE was established through a joint partnership between the governments of Egypt and China and developed by the Chinese national-level free market zone Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA). Sheikhoun was newly appointed to his role as overseer a few days ago.
Local media outlets reported that the plant will have a 10GWh annual production capacity, although this figure was not referenced in the Egyptian government release. Energy-Storage.news has reached out to Sungrow seeking further details.
In a recent blog for the site, PV Tech Research market analyst Charlotte Gisbourne wrote that the Middle East, Southeast Asia and India are all emerging as alternative manufacturing hubs to China.
In recent years, more than 35GWh of battery and 45GWh of cell manufacturing plans have been announced in the MEA region, Gisbourne wrote, although it appears Sungrow’s factory will be a BESS assembly plant, with no mention of cell production lines or vertically integrated solutions.
In related announcements, Chinese battery manufacturer and energy storage system integrator Hithium said in 2024 that it was set to build a 5GWh-per-year production plant in Saudi Arabia. This came as the company launched a BESS product specifically aimed at projects operating in desert conditions.
CATL opened its first dedicated after-sales and servicing centre in the region in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, at the beginning of this year.
Egypt also pursuing first pumped hydro plant development
Egypt’s renewable energy and storage sectors are starting to pick up traction. In July, Norwegian independent power producer (IPP) Scatec announced the start of commercial operations at Obelisk, a solar-plus-storage project in the country.
Obelisk combines 1.1GW of solar PV generation with 100MW/200MWh of BESS and was brought online in two phases. Sungrow is working with Scatec on the IPP’s ‘Energy Valley’ project in Egypt, and Scatec executive VP Mohamed Amer attended Monday’s event alongside Sungrow VP Thompson Meng.
A day before the groundbreaking for the Sungrow plant, Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy said in a meeting with renewable energy developer Renergy and investors that the country was committed to expanding the deployment of battery storage.
Minister Mahmoud Esmat also said that, as part of the drive to adopt renewable energy and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, Egypt is looking to deploy pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) that could be built in tandem with new solar PV in the Sinai Valley.
Feasibility studies have been conducted for a potential 3.1GW project discussed at the meeting. According to Renergy Egypt’s website, the company has been planning a potential 15GW/250GWh PHES project in the region, to be developed and built in three phases.
This article was written using machine translation of the Egypt State Information Service (SIS) announcement.
Co-located with the Middle East Energy Show, the inaugural Energy Storage Middle East Summit will take place in at Dubai World Trade Center, 1-3 September 2026, as our publisher Solar Media (part of the Informa Group) brings the world-leading energy storage conference series to one of the world’s fastest-growing BESS markets. Visit the website for more information.
