Sawiris’ Orascom, German REC to build $85 million solar park in Aswan

Egypt’s Orascom Telecom (OTMT), owned by the country’s business tycoon Naguib Sawiris, has signed Monday a strategic cooperation agreement with REC Systems Germany GmbH to build a solar power park in Egypt’s Aswan city.

The solar power park will cost around $85 million.

The agreement was signed during the Egyptian-German Economic Committee held in Cairo and in the presence of Egypt’s Ministry of Trade, Tarek Qabil, and Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy, as well as Germany’s Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy, Sigmar Gabriel.

Earlier, OTMT announced last September that its energy division had secured a licence and a land plot in Aswan to construct a 50-MW solar park.

The division, known under the name of O Capital for Energy, plans to build the facility in Kom Ombo, to the North of the city of Aswan, O Capital’s CEO Tamer El Mahdi told Amwal Al Ghad last September.

Also in September, PV manufacturer REC had formed an alliance with O Capital, an energy sector subsidiary of Egypt’s Orascom, on wide-ranging solar power development activities in Egypt as well as in the Middle East and Africa.