Vodafone Egypt is expected to cancel its tender for establishing a solar photovoltaic power plant to supply electricity for the company’s facilities nationwide as the Egyptian Electric Utility and Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency (EgyptERA) has now defined the regulatory controls of the building and operation of solar plants.
A senior official at Vodafone Egypt told Daily News Egypt that that 10 companies have expressed their desire to implement the project, of which four applicants have been chosen, but they have not been notified yet of any developments.
According to previous statements, Vodafone Egypt estimated that more than EGP 500,000 will be used to build a power plant with a capacity of between 20-50MW. The electricity will be used to power Vodafone Egypt’s technology centres and base stations. The firm will have to sign a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), which will allow the electricity produced by the solar power plant to pass through its grid.
This project is part of Vodafone Egypt’s new strategy to be the first among the four mobile operators in Egypt to consume electricity 100% produced from renewable sources.
An official from EgyptERA said Vodafone sent a request to the agency to launch a solar power station to power its facilities and they are still in talks over the issue, but no decision has been made yet.
Several companies in Egypt have expressed interest in the tender, including Infinity Solar, El Sewedy Electric, KarmSolar, Orascom, and others.
According to the Electricity Law, each subscriber has the freedom to choose their own electricity supplier, and the competitive market for electricity is based on free competition.
Several companies seek to implement renewable energy projects under the independent power producer (IPP) system, which allows companies to own the facilities and sale to utilities and end users through the national grid in exchange for usage fees.
