Both Ministries of Electricity and Environment have received a load of proposals to establish waste-to-energy projects after the cabinet approved the feed-in tariff for such projects. Total investment bids received from Arab and foreign companies amounted to $2bn.
A government source told Daily News Egypt that bidding companies included Entag, Egyptian Company for Solid Waste Recycling (ECARU), Empower Energy, Global Knowledge Company (GKC), China Power International Development, Recovered Energy Group, Intro Group, Shanghai Electric, and others.
The cabinet set the feed-in tariff for waste-to-energy projects at 140 piasters per kW/h. The tariff will be payable in EGP and will remain in place for 25 years. Under the tariff decision, the governorate in which the project is set up will pay 103 piasters per kW/h, while the remaining 37 piasters will be paid by sanitation organisations falling under the Environment Ministry’s jurisdiction.
According to the cabinet’s decision, the land of the project will be allocated by the hosting governorate on a usufruct scheme. Furthermore, each governorate – where the plant is located – will be responsible for providing the needed waste for the plant free of charge.
Khalid Al-Farra, a consultant for the waste-to-energy tariff, said the 140 piasters tariff set by the cabinet is feasible. According to the technical and financial studies upon which the tariff was determined, it is attractive and very encouraging for investment, and took into account the interests of both the state and investors, he added.
Ehab Tahoun, chairperson of the South Korea’s GKC Group, said the government-approved tariff is encouraging and attractive for investment, and opens the way for companies to invest heavily in this sector. The group aims to enter a waste-to-energy project with $225m investment in the first week of December, he revealed.
Tahoun explained that the target project’s incineration capacity will reach 600 tonnes of waste per day, adding that the project will be financed by a Saudi investor. GKC also aims to establish 10 power plants in Egypt in the coming period.
Hatem El Gamal, chairperson of Empower, said his company aims to launch four waste-to-energy plants in Egypt with investments up to EGP 400m.
