ACWA Power awarded an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract to Chinas Chint Group for three solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants at Benban, Egypt within the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) program.
The EPC contract moves forward the development of these three projects of a total investment value of $190mn, which together will generate a total of 165.5 MWp. These projects contribute to the target of obtaining 20% of energy requirements from renewable sources by 2022, set out by the Government of Egypt and the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy (MoERE).
Paddy Padmanathan, president and CEO of ACWA Power, said: Award of this contract triggers the engineering, procurement, and construction of these three plants which also represent our first investment in Egypt. We are confident of our partner Chint Group delivering the plants to the highest quality and in a timely manner without compromising health, safety, and environmental impact. We are excited to have entered the Egyptian power market through what we look forward to as the first three of many more assets to be developed in future.
Dr Chuan Lu, CEO of Chint Solar, said: Egypt is a growing market where significant change is happening in the renewables industry. We look forward to working with ACWA Power to deliver these significant projects that will contribute to the Egyptian governments vision.
The projects, which are located in the Aswan Province at Benban, will have a respective capacity to generate 67.5 MWp, 70 MWp, and 28 MWp as individual projects. The construction of all the projects will commence in Q1 2018. Once the projects start operations in Q4 2018, the new installed capacity will power 80,000 houses and provides a saving of 156,000 tons of CO2 a year.
With power demand in Egypt having grown by 28% in recent years, the Benban photovoltaic facility will be a key component of the governments efforts to meet the countrys increasing energy needs through renewable resources in addition to supporting Egypt Vision 2022 and 2030.