Acwa Power agrees deal with banks for three Egyptian solar PV plants

Acwa Power has reached a financial deal with multilateral banks for three photovoltaic (PV) projects in Egypt’s largest solar power complex in the southern Aswan province, the Saudi power plant developer said yesterday.

“Our first projects in Egypt have not only achieved financial close but are three photovoltaic power plants supporting the Egyptian government in its pursuit of securing 20 per cent of renewable energy in the power generation mix by year 2022,” said Paddy Padmanathan, president and chief executive.

Seventy-five per cent of the US$190 million project with a capacity of 165.5MWp will be developed through a non-recourse project debt secured from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The latter tranche is with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency and covers the remaining 25 per cent of the cost, the firm said.

Egypt has turned towards renewable energy to meet its power deficits. Its feed-in tariff programme also aims to secure an initial generation of 2,000 megawatts of solar capacity and 2,000MW of wind capacity. Egypt currently meets power requirements through fossil fuel energy sources.

The three PV plants with power-generating capacities of 67.5 MWp, 70 MWp and 28 MWp at Benban are being developed as part of the government’s feedin tariff programme.

Construction will begin in the first quarter of this year, while the commissioning is set for the fourth quarter. The installed capacity is sufficient to meet power requirements of 80,000 households, the firm said.

The Riyadh renewables developer is partnering with China and Egyptian conglomerates Tawakol and Hassan Allam Holding to develop its Egyptian projects.

Upper Egypt’s Benban is being developed to include 41 privately-owned plants to generate 1.8 gigawatts of power by this year, making it one of the largest such complexes in the world.