Barakah nuclear power project

Overview:

• Abu Dhabi state-controlled energy company Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) is devleoping the UAE's first nuclear power plant, Barakah,in Abu Dhabi with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), Korea's largest electricity utility.  
• The commercial interests of the project are held by Barakah One, which is 82% owned by ENEC, and 18% by KEPCO.
• When complete, the plant will have four units producing a combined 5,600MW in electricity.
• Construction of the plant's first unit began in 2012 and by late 2016 four units were 70% complete.  
• The initial build cost of $30 million consisted of a $10 billion equity investment from the sponsors, $10 billion export-credit agency debt, and $10 billion bank and sovereign debt.
• In October 2016, the project's developers negotiated a new finance facility of $24.4 billion to complete Barakah.
• The majority of the financing package will come from $19.6 billion in loans - $16.2 billion from Abu Dhabi's government, $2.5 billion from The Export-Import Bank of Korea, and $250 million from the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), First Gulf Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered.
• The deal also includes a combined $4.7 billion equity commitment from ENEC and KEPCO.
• The plant is scheduled to be operational by 2020. 

Ben Naylor - Regional editor