Bahrain-headquartered developer and investor of solar power projects Terra Sola Ventures (Terra Sola) has signed a deal with the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC), a joint stock company owned by the Egyptian government, for a project worth more than $3.5 billion to develop 2,000MWp of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy in Egypt.

Concurrently, Terra Sola has increased its capital by more than 35 per cent to reach a paid-up capital of $18.5 million, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

This latest increase in capital has been sourced primarily from the European market and is a firm endorsement of Terra Sola's unique and profitable business model as well as underscores Bahrain's strength as a regional centre for business and finance.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Terra Sola chairman David Heimhofer and EEHC chairman Ahmed Moustafa Emam in the presence of dignitaries from the Egyptian government and senior management from Terra Sola and Terra Nex.

"When we founded the company in 2010 in Bahrain, the idea was to build a Mena-wide business that traverses boundaries but is based in a stable financial environment. Bahrain to us has been a great incubator and a central point from where we have increased our reach," said Heimhofer.

"Our milestone project will bring together solid European expertise including Swiss financial strength and German solar technical knowhow and has already attracted considerable interest from local and regional investment houses.

This year we plan to further increase our capital by an additional $50m via a German stock listed entity in order to finance our expansion into other Mena countries," he added.

The MoU confirms the mutually agreed upon roadmap for the development and implementation of a 2,000MWp European-technology driven solar power project that has been specifically designed for Egypt.

The project also includes the setup of two advanced European-technology manufacturing units for the production of PV modules and inverters, a human capital development programme that will look to educate more than 10,000 students and a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Entrepreneurship Fund that will support the emergence of more than 1,250 SMEs.

Terra Sola is part of a consortium comprising two companies that have negotiated and finalised the MoU with top authorities in Egypt.

Terra Nex Financial Engineering (Terra Nex) is a Swiss wealth management company that specialises in asset management and venture capital activities and is the other company in the Terra Sola Consortium. - TradeArabia News Service