Egypt hopes to have finalised the terms of power purchase agreements for the first round of its feed-in tariff renewable energy programme by early April, says Electricity & Energy Minister Mohamed Shaker.

Speaking at the Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh on 14 March, Shaker said that “hopefully by the beginning of next month we will have bankable PPAs (power purchase agreements) for the renewable programme”.

“This will accelerate and enhance our feed-in tariff programme for power generation,” he added.

Huge interest

Shaker said that 187 applications had been received from companies from all around the world for the renewable energy programme, which showed the programme was “very attractive” to international investors.

The minister added that German energy consultant Fichtner had been assisting with the process.

The country’s first direct proposal renewable energy programme is planned to involve building 4,300MW of renewable energy. Shaker said 2,300MW of these will be solar and 2,000MW will be wind projects.

MEED reported in January that the Electricity Ministry had prequalified a total of 68 companies to submit proposals for prospective photovoltaic (PV) solar projects and wind farm developments.

The ministry hopes to award contracts for all of the 4,300MW of renewable energy schemes by the end of 2016.

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