The New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) is comparing offers from NARI Group Corporation and Vikram Solar for establishing 50MW solar power plant in Zafarana.
Sources from the NREA said that the two companies excelled in their technical and financial offers over B Electric in the tender put forward by the NREA to establish the project. It is expected that the NREA will choose the winning company and award it the contract during the next month.
The three companies have qualified technically after excluding two others; one for technical reasons and the other withdrew. The companies were notified of the deadline for submitting their financial bids.
The sources added that the price of energy produced from the Zafarana project will differ than that set by the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company to other stations.
The Ministry of Electricity aims to produce 20% of the country’s energy from new and renewable sources by 2022, and seeks to open the way for the private sector to invest in such projects.
The sources pointed out that numerous requests were submitted to the NREA for new projects, which shows that renewable energy attracts foreign direct investment, positively impact the economy, and strengthen the role of national institutions in creating better investment climate and reduce investment risks, as well as positive relations with financing institutions and development partners.
The NREA’s current projects include the 545MW Zafarana wind farm, 580MW Jabal Al Zait wind farm, the 140MW solar thermal power plant, and the first 26MW solar cell project in Kom Ombo, as well as the feed-in tariff projects in Benban.
The sources noted that the NREA plans to implement more projects with total capacity of 500MW next year. Most of the projects will be implemented by the private sector through auctions, tenders, and BOO schemes, among others.
The Benban solar park is expected to be completed and to start production in September. The total production capacity of the park is 1,465MW by 32 Arab and international companies with $2.5bn investments.
