- Saudi energy giant ACWA Power won the tender for the project in August thanks to a lowest final electricity price offer of $0.02752/kWh.
- Construction of the facility, which will use bifacial panels, is expected to be complete by April 2021.
Saudi Arabian energy giant ACWA Power announced it has signed a power purchase agreement with the government of Egypt for the 200 MW Kom Ombo PV plant it secured in a tender in August.
“Construction is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2021,” the company said in a statement.
Egypt’s minister of electricity and renewable energy, Mohamed Shaker, said: “The lowest tariff contracted to date for solar energy in North Africa is not only a reflection of continuing improvement in technology and the entrepreneurship of the developer, ACWA Power, but also of the attractiveness of Egypt as an investment destination and [of the ability of]the trade and commercial environment of Egypt to enable facilities of this nature to be financed, constructed and operated efficiently.”
Lowest bid
ACWA offered a final price of $0.02752/kWh for the solar electricity the plant will supply, undershooting the bid lodged by Spain’s Fotowatio, which offered $0.02791/kWh. The 200 MW project was procured with the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and will be one of Egypt’s largest solar parks, based near the huge Benban solar complex. The Kom Ombo plant will use bifacial panels provided by an unnamed manufacturer, ACWA added.
The Saudi power company has won several renewable energy projects in the Middle East and North Africa, including a 61.3 MW plant at Risha in Jordan in December 2017; three projects with a total generation capacity of 165.5 MW at Benban in January; a 70% stake in a 300 MW project at Sakaka in Saudi Arabia in November; a 100 MW solar project for Askar, in Bahrain in February; and a consortium-led bid which landed the tender for a 500 MW project in Oman in March.
ACWA also recently submitted the lowest bid in Ethiopia’s tender for the first round of its Scaling Solar program.
Author: Emiliano Bellini
This article was originally published in pv magazine and is republished with permission.
