Infinity Solar Systems is preparing to establish four projects to produce energy from solar plants and wind farms in the second phase of the feed-in tariff (FIT) project. The company intends to produce 133 MW in total from the four plants. Human and managerial resources manager at the company, Hesham El-Gamal, said that the company will build a wind farm of 100 MW in capacity in Gabal El-Zeit, a solar plant of 30 MW in Zaafarana, and another plant of 3 MW. He told Daily News Egypt that the company was unable to complete financial closure for all its projects in the first FIT phase, but has signed off on a 50 MW solar plant last week. He noted that Infinity plans to expand in solar and wind energy plants in the FIT projects, which comes in parallel to the government's plan to produce 20% of electricity through renewable energy sources by 2020. The second phase of the FIT system was launched on Saturday, with regulations and conditions that were announced by the Minister of Electricity in September. The price set stands at 8.4 cents per KW up to 50 MW. Moreover, investors are required to provide 70% of the cost from foreign banks. Conditions also allow companies to move arbitrations outside of Egypt in case of conflicts. The project duration is 12 months. Each company will have to secure letters from banks agreeing to fund the projects within six months. Furthermore, the contracts would last for 25 years and the payment method would be 30% of the tariff value calculated on the basis of the exchange rate against the US dollar at the time of the tariff's issuance. The rules also set 70% of the tariff value according to the Egyptian pound exchange rate against the greenback on the maturity date. Infinity Solar Systems has qualified, among 136 companies, to establish solar plants and wind farms with capacities totaling 4,300 MW with investments of $7bn.
