Italy’s Building Energy, a leader in renewable power, has signed an agreement worth $200 million to build two 50 MW photovoltaic plants in Egypt.

The project was awarded by the New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) of the Ministry of Electricity & Renewable Energy of Egypt.

Each plant in Benban, Upper Egypt is expected to generate around 143 GWh per year, contributing to the reduction of over 100,000 tons of CO2. Construction of the project will start in summer 2016 and will last 12 months.

By means of a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement, the plants will be connected to the 220 kV high voltage line linking Asswan to Cairo satisfying the energy needs of a total of 50,000 families. The project will create more than 1,000 jobs during construction and a further 70-80 long-term jobs during operation.

Building Energy has been present in the Middle East and North Africa region since early 2014 with its Dubai office, from which it manages and coordinates all the projects in the area.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Dr Mohamed Shaker El-Markabi, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Minister, Dr Mohamed El Sobky, executive chairman of the New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) and Cornelius Matthes, Building Energy’s managing director of Mena.

“With the allocation of public land under a fair and tightly managed scheme, the process of deploying 2 GW of solar energy under the FIT program, first regulatory period 2015-17, exceeded expectations so far and has reached an important project development milestone,” said Dr El Sobky.

“NREA foresees a considerable number of developers to reach financial close early 2016 and start construction thereafter,” he added.

“We are delighted to announce the kick-off of our first two projects in Egypt. The country is blessed with world class solar and wind resources and has established an extremely well managed program under which it aims to produce at least 20 per cent of its total power from renewable sources by 2020,” said Matthes.

“This is why the Egyptian Government has implemented a series of concrete steps to facilitate foreign investments, in order to meet the increasing energy needs and support the economic growth of the country.

“We are also glad that, through these projects, we will manage to positively impact the country, not only contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions, but also boost the local economy through the creation of over a thousand of new jobs. Other Mena countries will hopefully soon follow Egypt’s important leadership to deploy renewable energy on a large scale.”

Building Energy has teamed up with a local partner in Egypt, SolarShams, a renewable energy system integrator and local project developer. - TradeArabia News Service