Egyptian mogul Safwan Thabet’s Juhayna partners with KarmSolar to build solar power plant

Juhayna Food Industries, an Egyptian dairy, juice, and cooking product manufacturer led by renowned businessman Safwan Thabet, has signed a contract with KarmSolar Solar Energy Company to construct a solar power plant in New Valley, a governorate in Egypt’s southwest.

The latest agreement with KarmSolar will see the Thabet-led consumer goods company establish a hybrid central plant at one of its farms, Enmaa farm, in New Valley, that will generate energy using solar panels, diesel generators, and industrial batteries.

According to the contract, the hybrid central plant will have a nameplate capacity of 8.3 megawatts for solar energy, 10.8 megawatts for diesel energy, and 27.5 megawatts per hour from the battery storage system.

The first phase of the project will cost around EGP120 million to build, and efforts will be made within two years to cover the entire farm’s energy needs with solar panels.

In a statement, Juhayna CEO Niel Thomsen explained that the construction of the plant, which will advocate for a cleaner and more sustainable environment, will save 65 percent of the energy consumed by Juhayna’s Enmaa farm from solar energy and 35 percent from diesel generators.

He added that the partnership with KarmSolar is consistent with the Egyptian government’s interest in climate action as well as its hosting of the climate conference, as the plant will result in significant environmental and economic benefits and aid the transition to a green economy.

According to Ahmed Zahran, CEO of KarmSolar, the deal aims to meet Juhayna’s solar energy needs in hard-to-reach areas by providing a solar energy network that will save the consumer goods firm the equivalent of about 1.6 million liters of diesel annually.

Juhayna is a family-owned company that manufactures, processes, and sells dairy, juice, and cooking products. The company operates in five business segments in the food-processing and agro-allied industries.

Thabet, a leading Egyptian businessman who founded the Egypt-based food products manufacturer nearly 38 years ago, owns a majority 50.07-percent stake in the company through Pharon Investments Limited, which is presently worth $170 million.