The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) has informed all participants of a tender for the deployment of 600 MW of PV capacity in the West of Nile Area that it won’t accept bids exceeding US$0.025/kWh. In its tender for the 200 MW Kom Ombo solar project, the lowest bid, submitted by Saudi energy company ACWA, was $0.02752. Image: Flickr/ Thomas Malbaux After seeing the price of solar power crossing the $0.03 threshold in the tender for the 200 MW Kom Ombo solar project in early August, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, EETC has now set a maximum price of $0.025 for the ongoing tender for 600 MW of PV capacity in the West of Nile Area. Local industry sources confirmed to pv magazine that the EETC has informed all tender participants of the maximum price, as reported by local portal Daily News Egypt. According to its article, five companies are participating in the tender, including Chinese EPC company, TBEA Sunoasis, with projects ranging in size from 200 MW to 500 MW. Large-scale PV projects selected in the tender will be built under the Build Own Operate (BOO) policy, and will be awarded long-term PPAs with the EETC. In the tender for the Kom Ombo project, EETC is currently reviewing six bids, the lowest of which – $0.02752/kWh – was submitted by Saudi energy group, ACWA Power. The second lowest offer came from Spanish developer, Fotowatio at $0.02791 per kWh. This was followed by Norway’s Scatec Solar, at $0.03045 per kWh. The three other consortia – EDF-Marubeni-El Sewedy; Engie-Orascom; and Actis-Enerpal – offered $0.0315, $0.034 and $0.035 per kWh, respectively. Offers under the $0.025 per kWh threshold in the MENA region have been so far made only in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi (UAE), and Jordan. Egypt’s two ongoing solar tenders are the first that are being implemented after the Egyptian government decided to move from FITs to auctions. The FIT program was held in two different rounds and saw the contracting of approximately 2 GW of PV capacity. Most of this capacity is located in Benban, near Aswan in upper Egypt, where a 1.8 GW solar complex is currently under construction, with around half of its installed power already in operation. Emiliano joined pv magazine in March 2017. He has been reporting on solar and renewable energy since 2009. More articles from Emiliano Bellini
The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) has imposed a maximum bid price of $0.025 per kWh for its ongoing tender of 600 MW of solar capacity for schemes in the West of Nile Area. The five participating firms, including China's TBEA Sunoasis, have been informed of the cap, according to Daily News Egypt. The move comes as the EETC reviews offers for August's 200 MW Kom Ombo tender, where the lowest bid was $0.02752 per kWh, submitted by Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power.