Saudi Arabia-based power and water project developer ACWA Power announced Sunday it signed concession contracts with the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity to build three renewable energy power plants in Egypt. The three projects will be with investment costs totalling US$220 million. Hassan Amin, Country Manager at ACWA Power, said upon the contracts signed today, his company would set up a 50MW solar energy plant in Binban near Aswan, with investment cost ranging between US$80-90 million. In addition, ACWA Power will also build two wind farms in the Gulf of Suez, with total investment cost estimated at US$130 million, he added. Each wind farm will be with a 50MW capacity. Amin has signed the contracts with Mohamed El-Sobky – Chairman of Egypt's state-run New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) in the presence of Egyptian Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker, ACWA Power's chairman Mohammad Abunayyan, and the chairman of Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, Gaber Desouki. ACWA Power is the first company to sign the concession contracts among other firms bidding to set up renewable energy projects in Egypt. The signed contracts lie within the framework of Egypt's feed-in tariffs (FIT), which allow private producers, whether households or companies, to produce solar energy and sell it to the government to be added to the national grid. In September, Ministry of Electricity announces prices for electricity generated from solar and wind energies in the framework of combating the energy deficit in the coming months. The minister said the purpose of the feed-in tariff for purchasing electricity produced from renewable energy sources is to encourage private investment in this field due to limited resources from conventional sources of fuel. According to the minister, the energy tariff has been divided into five categories so that the price per kilowatt for households is EGP 0.84, but for 200 kilowatts of usage, the price rises to EGP 0.911. Moreover, ACWA Power's country manager said his company will receive the lands within the current week so as to start its projects in Egypt, on course for completion within 20 months. Last March during Egypt Economic Development Conference held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egyptian Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker signed two memoranda of understanding with ACWA Power and the United Arab Emirates' state-owned renewable energy firm Masdar. The first memorandum of understanding was signed with ACWA Power and Masdar to establish a 2200MW electricity power station, a 1500MW solar energy station and a 500MW wind energy station, at the cost of US$2.4 billion. The second memorandum was signed with ACWA Power to establish a power station generating 2000MW of electricity through the use of coal, costing US$7 billion. The power station is scheduled to expand to generate 4000 megawatts of electricity.
