Egypt solar FiT projects seen completion rates of 70% in August

The accomplishment rates of solar power plants under Egypt’s Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Programme will exceed 70 percent next August, said official sources in Benban Investors Society on Monday.

Egypt’s Feed-in-Tariff programme aims to use private-sector capital and expertise to help achieve its goal of providing 20 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2022.

“The accomplishment rates of the solar power plants’ first and second phases are currently ranging between 55 percent and 60 percent,” the sources further told Amwal Al Ghad.

Egyptian Electricity Ministry seeks to complete generating around 1,465 MW of the FiT projects before the end of the current year, they added.

“The cost of the phase-one and phase-two solar power plants, executed by some firms including Egyptian Infinity Solar, Alcazar Energy, and Taqa Arabia as well as Saudi Fas Energy, is totalling between $2 billion and $3 billion”, the sources said.

In 2014, the Egyptian ministry has announced feed-in tariffs for electricity generated by solar and wind sources as part of the government’s efforts to increase the country’s energy capacity in the face of serious power shortages and recent power outages.

It is set to allow the government to guarantee a certain price for energy produced to encourage investment in the renewable energy sector.