Saudi ACWA Power inked on Tuesday contracts worth 190 million dollars to generate solar power in Egypt, announced the company.
ACWA Power has secured three solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant contracts in Egypt.
Located in Benban’s Aswan province, the PV power plants will boast an aggregate capacity of 165.5MWp, and will be developed at a total investment value of approximately $190 million (SAR712.5m).
"The Benban projects are significant for being ACWA Power’s first investment in the country and we are confident that we will have many more opportunities to partner with the Ministry of Electricity in its pursuit of energy security,” he said.
Hosted by the Government of Egypt, the power purchase agreement (PPA) was attended by Engineer Gamal Abd-Al Rehem, chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), and Mohammad Abunayyan, chairman of ACWA Power, as well as other dignitaries.
The deal, which was awarded under Round 2 of the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) program, will see the Saudi Arabia-based company develop, finance, build, own and operate the plants.
ACWA’s projects are in keeping with the Government of Egypt and Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy’s (MoERE) target to achieve 20 percent of its energy generation from renewable sources by 2022. The FiT program aims to secure an initial generation of 2,000MW of solar capacity and 2,000MW of wind capacity.
ACWA Power is a developer, investor, co-owner and operator of a portfolio of power generation and desalinated water production plants currently with presence in 11 countries including in the Middle East and North Africa, Southern Africa and South East Asia regions.
Following the signing of the agreement, ACWA Power said that it expects to begin construction in the final quarter of this year. These will be the first projects that the company has developed in Egypt, and it is working with Egyptian companies Tawakol and Hassan Allam Holding to deliver them.
Once they begin operations next year, the plants will be expected to provide enough power for 80,000 homes, saving around 156,000 tons of CO2 per year when compared with conventional sources.
