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Switzerland-based Creative Power Solutions (CPS) in partnership with Absolicon is setting up a production line for solar thermal collectors in Egypt at a total investment of €5.4 million.
Majed Toqan, Chief Executive Officer of CPS told Zawya Projects that the project, which is the first of its kind in the MENA Region, received €2.7 million in financing from KfW Development Bank through the Facility Investing for Employment (IFE).
“Absolicon will provide €1 million investment and we are negotiating Bank Misr to lend us the rest. Construction will start in the first quarter of 2023 and production will start by the first quarter of 2024,” said Toqan.
The plant would be built on a 2,500 square metre land plot in Sadat City, he said, adding that it would enable knowledge transfer while boosting renewable energy deployment and creating jobs across various industry sectors.
Sweden-based Absolicon is the supplying the solar collector production line with support for marketing and technical support, development and technical training.
Toqan said 70 percent of the components would be sourced locally and the plant is expected to create 91 direct jobs and 264 indirect job opportunities.
Under the agreement, IFE provides CPS with a grant of €2.7 million, representing 50 percent of the total investment of the project.
Rauf Khalaf, IFE’s Managing Director of Investing for Employment, said: “As more than 50 percent of the world’s demand comes from thermal energy, which results in 40 percent of CO2 emissions, we are committed to join forces to advance climate technologies innovation in order to facilitate a path towards clean and green energy.”
IFE aims to support creation of employment opportunities in Africa by offering co-financing grants for new investment projects with high job creation impact.
CPS is the first grantee in Egypt of IFE’s ‘Green Economy’ Call for Proposals, which aims to create employment opportunities in Africa by offering co-financing grants for new investment projects with high job creation impact. The co-financing grants ranging from €1 million to €10 million per project.
Apart from Egypt, other focus countries include Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tunisia.
In a separate press statement issued on Wednesday, Absolicon said one of CPS’ clients has signed a long-term agreement to increase the efficiency of a 600 MWe (megawatt electrical) thermal power plant.
“The newly established production line will as an initial project produce solar collectors for a 14,000 square metre equivalent to 7 MW thermal installation at the power plant,” the statement said.
It said the production line will have the capacity to produce 50MW (18,000 solar collectors) Absolicon T160 solar collectors per year.
(Reporting by Marwa Abo Almajd; Editing by Anoop Menon)
