25 April 2019
The Egyptian tourist hotspot of Sharm El Sheikh is all set to get its first solar power plant with the formal inauguration of a five-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant on Thursday.

The plant represents the first phase of a 40MW solar power project for Red Sea resort town, said Walid Sheta, Chairman of Schneider Electric Egypt, which is the project's technical partner.

"We will start work on the 35MW second phase by the year-end," he told Thomson Reuters Projects in an exclusive interview during a pre-launch event on Wednesday.

He didn't disclose the cost of the project but said it is being developed by Intro Energy as lead developer and Gila AlTawakol Electric as co-developer.

Sheta confirmed that the second phase would not be based on the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) scheme, which underpinned the first phase.

"We are negotiating with the authorities to finalise the investment model for the second phase," he disclosed.

Chairman of Intro Group Mohamed Abbas told Thomson Reuters Projects that the opening of the first phase of the Sharm El Sheikh solar power plant represents the company's first foray into the renewable energy universe.

"The 5 MW plant is our first step towards building a comprehensive, large-scale platform for renewable energy solutions in the region," he said.

The project has also helped create business and job opportunities for the local community, added Gila AlTawakol Electric Chairman Mohamed Amr Tawakol.

He said the 5 MW plant would generate 10 gigawatt /hour (GWh) of clean electricity annually, which is sufficient to power 2,000 residential units and reduce carbon emissions by 3,506 tonnes.

Egypt is targeting to generate 20 percent of its electricity from clean energy resources by 2022.

(Reporting by Marwa Abo Almajd; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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