The New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) has recovered the lands of the solar energy projects in Banban, Aswan from five companies that have withdrawn from implementing the project. Sources in the NREA said that the authority has recovered 5 sqkm from Abdul Latif Jameel Company, Enel Green Power, Cairo Solar, Orascom Telecom, and Triangle. These companies were to launch solar power plants in Banban as part of the feed-in tariff project. Sources added that the NREA will pay the dues of the five companies next week. Each company provided a letter of guarantee worth $750,000 for the lands, in addition to EGP 16,500 for the roads and traffic infrastructure works. Sources explained that last week, representatives of the five companies completed the delivery of the lands in Aswan, similar to the process that took place when they received the lands straight after signing the memorandum of understanding (MOU) to utilise them for the implementation of the projects. The sources noted that the five companies obtained their dues from the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) regarding the agreement to split costs and the projects' letters of guarantee. Nine companies have withdrawn from the implementation of the feed-in-tariff projects, including Italian Enel Green, French Neon, Saudi Arabian Abdul Latif Jameel, EgyptianCairo Solar, Spanish Dama, Canadian Solar, Innovation Unlimited Egypt, Emirati Adenium, and Egyptian Orascom Telecom. The minister of electricity announced last month that no fines were imposed on the withdrawing companies, which was a decision that comforted investors who seek to complete the procedures necessary to obtain all their dues. The government launched the renewable energy feed-in tariff programme in 2014 to establish electricity generation projects from solar and wind energy plants with capacities of 4,300MW and investments worth $7bn. These include 2,300MW for solar projects, including 300MW for plants with a capacity less than 500KW, in addition to 2,000MW for wind plants.
