Access Infra Africa To Invest $500 Million In Renewable Energy Projects
Access Infra Africa has announced plans to invest $500 million in developing renewable energy projects in Africa over the next three years. The company is expected to initiate this investment from Egypt, which recently conducted an auction of solar and wind energy projects.
Access Infra Africa — a joint venture between France’s Eren Developpement and United Arab Emirates’ Access Power — has successfully bid to develop four solar energy projects with total generation capacity of 200 MW and two wind energy projects of 100 MW.
The Egyptian power sector seems a perfect start for the joint venture. The country plans to boost its renewable energy generation and source 20% of the total electricity needs from wind and solar power projects by 2020.
Egypt is planning to auction 30 GW of power generation capacity based on renewable energy and coal. The aim is to drive down the selling price of electricity by promoting competition among international companies. Among the renewable energy technologies the focus is expected to be on wind energy. The country is already among the largest markets for wind energy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Of the 20% renewable energy share targeted by 2020 in the power generation, 12% is expected to be achieved through wind energy, and the balance 8% from solar power and hydro power. To achieve this, the Egyptian government is planning to auction 7,200 MW of wind energy capacity by 2020.
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Egypt is looking to attract foreign investors in the renewable energy auctions through supportive regulatory frameworks and backing of development banks for debt financing. Last year, the government announced feed-in tariffs for renewable energy project developers as well as homeowners. The utility-scale renewable energy projects are eligible for tariffs of up to ¢14.34 per kWh. Utility-scale project developers would also be eligible for concessional interest rates on imported equipment.
The first auction, conducted in early January, attracted significant interest from global companies. The solar power capacity auction was subscribed twice over with developers looking to develop as much as 4.3 GW generation capacity. The wind energy auction was comparatively muted but the government is expected to conduct another wind energy auction in the near future.
Image Credit: Solar panels in Egypt by egd, via Shutterstock
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