ACWA Power and Masdar have jointly signed an agreement with the state-run Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) to develop 2 GW renewable energy projects.
Of the capacity to be added 1.5 GW will come from solar energy and 500 MW will be generated by wind energy. The companies are expected to initiate capacity building by setting up a 200 MW photovoltaic power plant.
By 2020 Egypt proposes to expand its renewable energy installed capacity to 20 percent.
In keeping with the pledge the government of Egypt has signed agreements with several developers to install at least 6.5 GW of solar power capacity.
The country will witness an investment of $30 billion in such projects over the next few years.
Egypt has also launched a feed-in tariff scheme aimed at boosting investments in solar power. According to the scheme, solar PV projects with capacity between 500 kW and 20 MW will get 13.6¢/kWh, and projects sized between 20 MW and 50 MW will get 14.34¢/kW, with power purchase period of 25 years.
Terra Sola and SkyPower recently signed renewable energy agreements with Egypt. The former announced an investment of $3.5 billion to set up about 2 GW of solar power capacity over the next few years. The company initially plans to set up a 800 MW solar power park.
SkyPower Global, in partnership with International Gulf Development, will be installing up to 3 GW of solar power modules in Egypt over the next 4 years.
Along with the proposed renewable energy capacity addition of 2 GW, Egypt will also see the installation of 2.2 GW of combined-cycle natural gas power project.
Ajith Kumar S