Total of USD 5bn in green investments await FiT clearance in Egypt - report

Renewable energy investments totalling USD 5 billion (EUR 4.49bn) are currently awaiting the approval of Egypt’s proposed feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme, according to the chairman of a local sector firm.

These investments, in turn, would create some 300,000 jobs, Tamer Al-Mahdi, chairman of O Capital, said last week, as cited by Al-Ahram Weekly.

Egypt made a decision a year ago to introduce a FiT to encourage renewable energy generation, but the scheme is still pending clearance because the government continues to negotiate a finance plan with banks, the newspaper said. The country aims to source at least 20% of its total power from renewables by 2020.

Al-Mahdi made the comments after O Capital, part of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, Media & Technology Holding SAE (OTMT), signed a solar power partnership agreement with Norway-based solar equipment maker REC Solar ASA.

O Capital’s chairman told Al-Ahram Weekly that the two firms will collaborate on building the 50-MW Kom Ombo solar park, which will require an investment of some USD 100 million. The pair is also looking to construct more such facilities in Egypt and possibly in other countries as well, he said, as quoted by the paper.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.899)

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