Benban solar park commence operation on US $68.6m AEES1 project

Egypt has announced completion and commencement of commercial operation on US $68.6m Alcazar Energy Egypt Solar 1 (AEES1) PV project located in Benban solar park in Aswan.

Renewable energy producer, Alcazar Energy confirmed the reports and said that AEES1 is one of four developments being undertaken by the energy producer in Benban, with each having a capacity of 64 MWp all adding up to a total of 256 MWp.

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Benban Solar Park

The projects are part of the Nubian Suns development scheme led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in unison with the World Bank, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the Government of Egypt. The scheme aims at influencing private sector capital and expertise, to support the goal of generating 20% electricity from renewable resources by the year 2022.

“It is with great pride that Alcazar Energy can confirm that AEES1 is the first of thirty projects from the Round 2 FIT programme to realise timely commercial operation within budget,” said Daniel Calderon, Co-Founder & CEO of Alcazar Energy.“The completion of AEES1 marks an important milestone for our company and we are fortunate to play a role in a program me of this scale which is testament to the spirit of partnership and cooperation required from governments, developers, investors and lenders in mobilizing large infrastructure projects such as Benban,” Mr. Daniel added.Moreover the Co- Founder acknowledged that Over 2,000 direct and indirect jobs have been created during construction across the four projects and are targeting the remaining three to begin operation by end of February.

Reducing global greenhouse gas emission

AEES1’s project was financed by loans from IFC, lead arranger, Asian Infrastructure Investment bank (AIIB), African Development Bank Group and CDC Group and equity from Alcazar Energy. The project was constructed by a joint venture between TSK and Enviromena.

All four of the Benban solar PV projects are expected to generate approximately US $31.5 million in gas savings from the displacement of fossil fuels, in addition to saving 311,500 tones of carbon dioxide and 680,300 cubic metre of water per year.

When complete, Benban solar park itself will illuminate thousands of homes, industries and commercial premises. That will help provide Egypt, a fast-growing country of more than 100 million residents, with the clean energy it needs to drive growth. At the same time, the park will also help in reducing global greenhouse gas emission.