A developer consortium led by Norway’s Scatec has reached financial close for six solar projects under Egypt’s feed-in-tariff (FIT) renewable energy programme.

The Norwegian developer will develop six photovoltaic (PV) solar plants with a total capacity of 400MW. The developer had signed the power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) in April. The plants will generate 870GWh of solar electricity a year.

Financing for the projects is being provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the private sector (ICD). The UAE office of the UK-based law firm Clifford Chance advised the financiers on the transactions.

Cairo has achieved noticeably more success with the second round of its FIT round than the initial phase. MEED reported in August that Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power had signed contracts to develop three projects under the FIT second round with a total capacity of 165.5MW, with a total estimated investment of $190m.

The three projects will also be located at 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. The plants are due to start operation in 2018. For the 67.5MW project, the local Hassan Allam Holding is Acwa Power’s partner for the scheme.

In May, Saudi Arabia’s Alfanar Energy signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with EETC to develop a 50MW photovoltaic (PV) solar plant under the second round of the FIT programme. The Saudi company 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).

MEED reported in March that three developers had reached financial close for PV IPPs under the first round of Egypt’s ambitious 4.3GW feed-in-tariff renewable energy programme.

The first round of the feed-in-tariff programme had been plagued by a number of problems, from the ongoing currency crisis in Egypt to disputes over the omission of an international arbitration clause in the contracts.

A total of 40 developers were prequalified to participate in the first round of the programme in 2015, but only nine of these signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with EETC by the deadline in October 2016. Out of these nine, only the above three were able to successfully reach financial close under the conditions of the first round.