A recent renewable energy tender held in Egypt — the first in the Middle East at the gigawatt scale — was oversubscribed twice over for solar energy projects, according to recent reports.
As per the reports, around 177 international consortiums of various companies applied for solar and wind project contracts.
The new numbers come to us via the chairman of the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), Mohamed EL Sobki — and were revealed during a recent conference on Egypt’s renewable energy sector.
Out of the 177 that applied, 67 have now been chosen to develop roughly 4.3 GW of solar and wind energy projects in the country. Out of these approved projects, at least 40 are solar energy projects, with the rest being wind energy projects.
Solar power applications totaled twice as much capacity as was sought, but wind energy was undersubscribed. To be exact, the wind energy tender was only ~56% subscribed. So, another tender will be held in coming months.
As far as the rates of approved projects goes — solar PV projects between 500 kW and 20 MW in size will get 13.6¢/kWh, and projects between 20 MW and 50 MW in size will get 14.34¢/kW. Contracts will be for a 25-year term.
This recent tender, and the project approvals that have followed, comes as Egypt’s energy problems have been hitting a high-point. The country’s recent moves to attract foreign investment and spur a renewable energy buildout are intended, at least partially, to address this issue. Considering the country’s great solar energy potential, the move certainly makes good sense. The biggest potential hurdle is the relative political instability of the region at the moment, but that apparently didn’t scare away project developers.
Image Credit: Solar panels in Egypt, via Shutterstock
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