Ramboll-Firnas Shuman alliance has applied for the consultantship for site studies and construction of a solar power plant in the West Nile with a capacity of 200 MW. Sources told Daily News Egypt that the companies eligible to implement the project chose the alliance after competing with two companies. The project will be awarded after the approval of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC). The sources pointed out that the 13 companies eligible to implement the project agreed to chip in for the consultant costs to conduct studies on the project site, provided that each company gets the studies after they are completed. The sources pointed out that the total cost of contracting with the consultant would be distributed equally to all companies. Representatives of EDF, Alcazar Energy, Lekela Power B.V., and Orascom assumed the tasks of offering the tender and selecting the consultant. The EETC had contracted with the Indian company Synergy to undertake consulting works for the project of constructing and implementing the plant, and it is different from the tender that the investors had put forward to conduct land site's studies. The consultant undertakes the preparation of technical requirements, and reviews technical and financial offers submitted in cooperation with officials of the EETC, as well as the evaluation to prepare the shortlist, and award the winning companies. The list of qualified and competing companies on the West Nile station includes Orascom, Infinity, ACWA Power, Alcazar Energy, Lekela Power, Tebia, Masdar, and First Solar among others. As defined in the Integrated and Sustainable Energy Strategy until 2035, the government has set renewable energy targets at 20% of the electric power grid by 2022 and 42% by 2035. The total installed capacity of the renewable energy sources is 5,500 MW, which includes 2,800 MW of hydroelectric power, about 2,700 MW of wind and solar energy, including 1,465 MW from solar energy projects in Benban, and 250 MW from a recent wind farm.
