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ACWA Power seals deal to build

Egypt’s 200-MW Kom Ombo PV plant

EGYPT SAUDI Arabia’s ACWA Power has finalised the finance construction, development and design.
project agreements for Egypt’s 200-MW Kom “The signing of the final project agreements
Ombo solar PV plant. for Kom Ombo PV reflects our long-standing
The company signed a 25-year power pur- relationship with the EETC and the NREA, as
chase agreement (PPA), a network connection well as our shared commitment to advancing
contract and a usufruct agreement with Egyptian the country’s renewable energy landscape and
Electricity Transmission Co. (EETC) and Egypt’s decarbonisation efforts,” said Paddy Padmana-
The New and Renewable Energy Authority than, president & CEO of ACWA Power.
(NREA). The government guarantee for the project
Egypt has up to 90 GW of untapped renewa- was signed in January 2021 between ACWA
ble resources, ACWA Power said in a statement, Power and Mohamed Maait, Egypt’s Minister of
particularly wind and solar energy. Finance.
“In line with Egypt’s Integrated Sustainable Kom Ombo PV is part of ACWA Power’s
Energy Strategy, our aim is to produce 42% of energy portfolio in Egypt, which currently
Egypt’s electricity using renewable sources by includes three solar PV projects located in
2035. Currently necessary studies are being con- Aswan Province (Benban 1, Benban 2 and Ben-
ducted to increase this percentage, stressing on ban 3) with an aggregate capacity of 120 MW, as
maximising the utilisation of renewable energy well as the 2,250-MW Dairut-Luxor CCGT IPP
in many areas, including water desalination and in the Luxor Governorate.
green hydrogen production,” said Mohamed Construction of the plant is expected to begin
Shaker El Markabi, Egypt’s Minister of Electricity in the third quarter of 2021 and upon comple-
and Renewable Energy. tion, Kom Ombo PV will cater to the power
The Kom Ombo PV project is scheduled to needs of 130,000 households and offset 336,000
achieve financial closure in the third quarter of tonnes per year (tpy) of carbon dioxide.
2021. Kom Ombo PV will be one of the largest
The project has received a $40mn senior privately developed utility-scale solar plants in
debt financing and a $14mn equity bridge loan Egypt and will support the country in increas-
from the European Bank of Reconstruction and ing its renewable energy capacity in line with the
Development (EBRD), as well as a $27.2mn loan national targets to generate 22% of Egypt’s power
from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to from renewables by 2022 and 42% by 2035.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 14 08•April•2021