Egypt has further extended the bid submission date for the planned 200MW photovoltaic (PV) solar plant at Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt.

Egypt Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), which is overseeing the project, has extended the bid deadline to 1 August from the previous May 1 submission date.

The tender for the Kom Ombo project has been delayed a number of times, with bids having been initially been invited for submission in June 2016.

Prior to the launch of the 200MW tender in 2016, the Kom Ombo project had been planned as 10 separate 20MW PV projects, with Egypt’s New & Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) having prequalified groups in 2014.

The Kom Ombo is one of a number of large PV solar projects that NREA is planning to develop under the independent power producer (IPP) model.

MEED recently reported that EETC had received prequalification entries from 18 prospective bidders for its planned 600MW PV solar plant in the West of Nile area.

Egypt has set targets for renewable energy to contribute 20 and 35 per cent of total energy produced by 2022 and 2035 respectively.