Egypt to announce new renewables tariffs

24 January 2016

New round of projects under study

Egypt will announce new solar and wind feed-in tariffs after 28 October, according to Atter Hannoura, head of Egypt’s PPP Central Unit, speaking at the World Future Energy Summit’s Egypt Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi in January.

Feed-in-tariffs in the second round of schemes are expected to be lower than for those projects developed as part of the first round.

“In October 2016, we will look at announcing new feed-in-tariff projects,” Mohammed el-Sobki, head of the Egyptian New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), told MEED on the sidelines of the conference. “We are waiting for cabinet approval.”

The date is the deadline for the first round of wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) feed-in-tariff projects to reach financial close. Developers that miss the deadline or exceed the 2,000MW quota for each technology will have priority in the second round.

“It is a very generous feed-in-tariff,” said Hannoura. “We took measures of the risks and anticipated all these risks, plus a cushion intentionally, to attract developers and get them comfortable. In the next round the risk premium will be less as they will have more comfort, things will be back to normal.”

The 2,000MW of solar projects was heavily oversubscribed, and developers are racing to reach financial close before the limit is reached, to avoid their project being pushed into the second round. The wind schemes have had less interest, and 4,000MW of renewable power may not be financed by October.

The Egyptian government and investors are hoping the strong interest in the first round will translate into a sustainable market for renewables.

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