Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power has reached financial close for three solar projects under the second round of Egypt’s feed-in-tariff renewable energy programme.

The total cost of the three projects, which will have a combined total capacity of 165.5MW, will be about $190m, of which 75 per cent will be financed through non-recourse project debt from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

The three projects will be located in the Aswan province in Benban, and will have the capacity to generate 67.5MW, 70MW and 28MW individually. The projects are expected to reach financial close by the fourth quarter of 2017, with construction due to start by the end of the year. For the 67.5MW project, the local Hassan Allam Holding is Acwa Power’s partner for the scheme.

Acwa Power is the second Saudi developer to sign contracts to deliver PV solar plants under the second round of the FiT programme.

MEED reported in May last year that Alfanar Energy had signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) to develop a 50MW photovoltaic (PV) solar plant under the second round of the FiT scheme.

Alfanar will also develop the 50MW facility at the proposed 1.8GW Benban solar complex. The Saudi company has secured $55m in non-recourse financing from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of Private Sector (ICD).

Egypt has been much more successful with the second round of its 4.3GW FiT scheme, with the first round having been plagued by a number of problems, from the country's ongoing currency crisis to disputes over the omission of an international arbitration clause in the contracts.

Other developers which are pushing ahead with projects under the second round of the FiT programme include Norway's Scatec and a consortium of France's Eren Renewable Energy and Dubai-based Access Power.