Egypt’s New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) has invited developers to submit bids for the contract to develop a 200MW photovoltaic (PV) solar project at Kom Ombo in upper Egypt.

The client has set a deadline of 28 June for bids for the independent power project (IPP), although this will probably be extended with developers likely to seek an extension.

The Kom Ombo PV project had originally been planned as 10 separate 20MW PV projects, with NREA having prequalified groups in 2014. However, the project has now been changed to a single 200MW scheme.

Egypt has also previously drawn up plans for a 100MW concentrating solar project (CSP) at Kom Ombo. The estimated $750m, 100MW project, near Aswan, received strong initial funding support, with the World Bank agreeing to provide $170m, the AfDB $170m, the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) $100m and the EU’s National Indicative Programme (NIP) $32m.

However, the project encountered delays as a result of the overthrow of the Mubarak regime. A request for the EoIs for the consultancy contract on the scheme was issued in May 2013. However, in 2014, the project was put on hold while further studies were done on the specification of the plant.

The Kom Ombo PV project is the second major solar project that NREA has tendered under the IPP model in 2016.

MEED recently reported that developers are working on proposals for the planned 200MW West Nile solar IPP in Egypt.

MEED reported in February that the country’s New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) had prequalified groups to participate in the tender for the photovoltaic (PV) solar plant.

NREA invited 32 of the 41 bidding groups that had submitted prequalification entries in October to participate in the tender. Bids are expected to be submitted by 20 June