Cairo - German companies Ib Vogt and Solizer have reached financial close on a 64.1MW photovoltaic plant in Egypt in partnership with local developer Infinity Solar. The Infinity 50 solar park, located in Benban near Aswan, secured 85% of the debt from Bayerische Landesbank and the balance from the Arab African International Bank. The project was approved by the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company on 6 March under its first round of the feed-in tariffs, in which only three groups won support out of 39 bidders. Ib Vogt has started construction and aims to commission the facility in the fourth quarter of the year, it said. The plant will sell its electricity to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company under a 25-year power purchase agreement. The project forms part of the Benban solar complex, which is expected to reach as much as 1.86GW in capacity. "We are very pleased to have secured this project and to have been one of the very few consortia able to successfully qualify for the landmark Egyptian round one programme," Ib Vogt managing director Anton Milner said. "This is the culmination of many months of preparatory work in what has been a very complex project, representing a very significant investment for the company."
