Egypt has approached the African Development Bank (AfDB) for funding of $130 million to finance a 200MW wind project, reported Amal Al Ghad this weekend.
This is part of an overall $440 million expected cost for the project, which is being developed by Masdar Group, the Abu Dhabi renewable energy company, and Egypt's New and Renewable Energy Authority.
Egypt has stated that it plans to source 20% of its energy requirements from renewable sources by 2030. As part of this plan, the government has pre-qualified a number of international companies with extensive experience in developing and building renewable energy projects. These include Italy's Enel Green Power, Indian Tata Power, ACWA, US-based First Solar Inc and Scatec Solar ASA of Norway, among others.
In September this year, Saudi Arabian project developer, ACWA Power, along with Masdar Group announced plans to discuss a proposal for a 1.5GW solar plant in Egypt.
The Egyptian government has developed an attractive feed-in tariff scheme to boost investments in the solar power sector. Solar PV projects between 500kW and 20MW in size will receive 13.6¢/kWh, and projects between 20MW and 50MW will receive 14.34¢/kW, with contracts for a 25-year term.
According to Clean Technica, developers including Terra Sola have plans for a $3.5 billion investment to set up 2GW of solar power capacity over the next few years, with initial plans to set up a 800MW solar power park. Additionally SkyPower Global and International Gulf Development have jointly signed agreement to develop up to 3GW of solar power capacity over the next 4 years.