ACWA Power is implementing a 2,250MW power station in Luxor, and also signed contracts to implement a solar power plant in Kom Ombo with a capacity of 200MW, besides competing for several tenders to implement projects with varying capacities, Country Director of ACWA Power Hassan Amin said.
The company seeks long-term investment in Egypt to benefit from recent legislations and regulations governing investment in the energy sector. “The electricity sector goes through various stages, the first of which was the energy deficit, overcoming it, and then achieve production surplus,” Amin added.
“To avoid falling into the trap of deficits in the next decade, we need a plan to increase production by 20% compared to the needs and determine the real needs of electrical capabilities. I believe that by 2024, we will need to increase the capacities of the electrical network,” he continued.
“The Benban project was not easy to implement, and we should be proud of the ability to achieve this starting in 2015 after getting out of difficult conditions and attracting a large number of foreign investors,” he added.
He pointed out that the company operates in 12 countries with an investment volume exceeding $35bn and production exceeding 28GW.
Taymour Abu Al-Khair, chief investment officer sector at Infinity Solar, said that his company is optimistic about the future of investment in energy, but the pace of resolving tenders and the implementation of projects must be accelerated, as well as passing a law for the independent electricity producer, which stipulates that the private sector may sell electricity directly to consumers.
He explained that Infinity Solar has developed a strategy to implement renewable energy projects in Egypt with a capacity of 1GW within the next five years, and is developing long-term plans to implement projects in cooperation with international financing institutions.
He expects that the demand for contracting with private companies to buy electricity produced from renewable energy plants to increase, especially with the state’s tendency to raise subsidies permanently on electricity, according to what the government announced earlier.