Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly witnessed on Wednesday the signing of an agreement to purchase energy to generate electricity from solar power under the BOO (build, own, operate) system at a cost of about $200 million in Aswan's Kom Ombo town. The deal was signed by Sabah Mashaly, chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, Rajit Nanda, Chief Investment Officer of ACWA Power, and Hassan Amin, the regional director of ACWA Power-Egypt. The inking ceremony was attended by Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker, and Saudi Arabia's Ambassador in Cairo Osama Al-Nugali, among others. Shaker said the purchase price of electricity in the new project is 2.48 cent per kilowatt/hour, noting that it is the lowest price reached so far. Meanwhile, Mashaly said the agreement is part of the Ministry of Electricity's strategy to expand in using sources of renewable energy to achieve 20 percent contribution out of the total power-generating sources by 2022. The project will contribute to creating about 2,000 job opportunities during the construction phase and 1,000 openings in the operation phase, in addition to attracting further investments and providing 920,000 tons of dioxide carbon per year, she added.
