The African Development Bank (ADF) is considering providing Alcazar Energy with $18 million in financing for the construction of a 50 MW PV power plant in Benban, near Aswan, in upper Egypt.
The ADF said the project, which is named Alcazar II Project and is the second developed by the company under Egypt’s FIT scheme, is being executed by Delta for Renewable Energy, the 75% of which was acquired by Alcazar Energy from another developer, Delta Consortium, which was one of the bank’s shortlisted developers under Round 1 of the FIT scheme.
The vast majority of the PV plants entitled to receive FITs under the country's renewable energy program are being planned for the area of Benban, where around 1.8 GW of the 2 GW allocated by the program will be installed.
The 2 GW goal will be achieved via the development of 40 individual solar parks of around 50 MW each, as Egypt aims to source 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
After two years of stalling, the country’s incentive program for solar and renewables seems now to regain momentum as several projects are reaching financing close. Last week, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced that its board of directors has approved a $500 million credit facility to finance 13 large-scale PV projects in the Benban complex.
In mid-April, the Norwegian developer Scatec Solar signed a 25-year PPA for six solar projects, all of which are located in the Ben Ban area.
Several solar projects under the FIT scheme were halted in September of last year, after the Egyptian government announced an updated phase for its feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme, dramatically reducing the FIT rate for PV projects to US$0.084 and US$0.078/kWh.
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It is a very expensive project but for the long run, it is very beneficial.
ADF is doing a great project for the local people and it will help a lot to industries as well.