Egypt scraps West Nile solar tender as new PV assembly line is launched

The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) has cancelled its 200MW tender to establish a solar photovoltaic power plant in the West Nile area.

According to local media Daily News Egypt, EETC has informed the 13 companies that had qualified to bid for the project, of its decision to scrap the tender.

The list of eligible companies included Orascom Construction, Infinity Energy, Acwa Power, Alcazar Energy, Lekela Power, Tebia, Masdar, First Solar, among others.

The Egyptian transmission company had previously contracted with India’s Synergy to undertake the consultancy work for the project.

Local media reported the reason for the cancellation being due to the country achieving surplus electricity amid lower demand, and with projects already in progress.

However, Daily News Egypt also indicated that EETC will not cancel the other projects in west Nile area, which will be put up in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation.

The sources said that the list of potential projects will be reviewed in the coming period as some will be prioritized while others may be cancelled or postponed.

Solar module production line in Egypt

Meanwhile, Spanish automation systems manufacturer Mondragon Assembly Group announced that it has successfully supplied and commissioned a 100MW PV module production front line in Cairo.

The project was launched in the final quarter of 2019 on behalf of Teriak Industrial Group. The latter seeks to be a key player in Africa when it comes to clean energy production, the announcement said.

The newly-installed line allows Teriak to produce a variety of solar modules ranging from bifacial half-cut glass-glass panels to standard high efficiency Mono PERC panels.

This is Mondragon’s eighth line installed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and second in Egypt, where it previously delivered a 50MW PV module assembly line for Arab International Optronics.

By 2022, the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity aims to produce 20% of its energy from renewable sources and increase this to 42% by 2035.

The total installed capacity of renewable energy will be 5.5GW. This will include 2.8GW from hydroelectric plants, and about 2.7GW from wind and solar plants, along with the 1.4GW from the Benban Solar Complex.

This article was originally posted on Power Engineering International and was republished with permission.