Acciona partners with Swicorp to build three solar plants in Egypt totalling 150MW

Acciona has partnered with Swicorp from Saudi Arabia to develop three solar plants in Egypt with a total capacity of 150MW.

A total of $180m will be invested in the three solar plants that are expected to be identical. The plants will help in generating enough clean electricity to be supplied to 150,000 Egyptian homes.

The solar plant can offset at least 297,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, had the energy been produced from a coal-fired plant.

Electricity generated from the solar plants will be supplied to Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) under a long-term power purchase agreement for a period of 25 years.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) along with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) have agreed to provide funding for the project.

Acciona Energía CEO Rafael Mateo said: “We are very pleased to increase our presence in an area with great potential in the long run for the renewable energy sector as is North Africa, working with such reputable partner as Swicorp with the support of IFC and AIIB.”

The project will include three identical 50MW solar plants, all of which will be located at the Benban complex in the Aswan region (Upper Egypt) 40km north-west of the city of Aswan and around 15km west of the River Nile.

Construction of the solar power plants is expected to start in December and they are anticipated to become operational a year later.  

Each of the 50MW plant will fitted with 190,774 polycrystalline silicon modules to be supplied by Chinese PV module-maker JinkoSolar. The PV modules will be mounted on STI Norland-made horizontal-axis tracking structures.

Swicorp executive director and ENARA renewable energy platform head Rabeaa Fattal said: “We are happy to see our partnership with Acciona materialize through these projects. We believe in the potential of the Region and Egypt and look forward to executing further projects in our pipeline under our successful alliance with Acciona.”

Image: Acciona partners with Swircorp to develop 150MW solar projects in Egypt. Photo: Courtesy of Acciona.