Saudi Arabian’s Acwa Power announced on 8 January that it has closed three solar PV projects worth $190m located in the Benban complex, Aswan Province. The projects, which were selected in the second round of Egypt’s feed-in tariff programme, will have combined generation capacity of 125MW (165.5MWp).
Acwa Power will build the plants – sited on plots 3-1 (50MW), 42-4 (25MW), and 43-4 (50MW) – in partnership with China’s Chint Solar (Zheijang). Construction is scheduled to begin this quarter, with commercial operations starting by the end of the year.
Acwa Power signed power purchase agreements for the plants in August 2017. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China are covering 75% of the project costs with a non-recourse loan, backed by the World Bank Group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. The remaining 25% will be paid with equity.
The Egyptian government has set a target of generating 20% of power using renewable energy by 2022 and a number of procurement programmes are underway. The feed-in tariff programme alone intends to procure 2,000MW solar power and 2,000MW wind.
