Egypt

The German PV company had reached commercial operation of the first batch of its project at the huge Egyptian solar park in February 2018. Participants in the 1.8 GW solar park receive tariffs set in the nation’s second FIT tender round.

Boasting 195 MW of bifacial-and-tracking capacity, Scatec Solar is halfway to its planned 400 MW target for the technology combination at the 1.8 GW Benban park. The remainder is likely to come online this year.

Scatec Solar has connected the next part of its 400 MW tracking and bifacial PV plant to the grid in Egypt’s Benban complex. The entire project is set to fully come online throughout the second half of the year. Meanwhile, the company has also secured additional funding for a 33 MW solar project in Mali.

A new report analyzing 10 solar markets throughout Africa claims that the continent’s PV market could expand from about 5 GW at present to up to 30 GW by the end of the next decade.

A government ministry reportedly announced 16 operational solar plants with a total capacity of 780 MW have been connected, along with three more projects that are expected to bring another 150 MW of capacity online this month.

World Bank Group member the IFC has signed an agreement to implement tendered projects with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company. The tender for the solar complex was launched at the end of 2017.

The world had more than half a terawatt of PV generation capacity at the end of last year as emerging solar markets picked up the slack caused by Beijing’s subsidy about-turn to the tune of a 20% rise in installations outside China.

Things are hotting up in the tracker world as the desire to squeeze down the price per Watt of solar power intensifies. And the rise of the trackers is attracting some well-known businesses to buy their way into the field.

The association that represents developers operating at the 1,465 MW solar project in Egypt – due for completion in June – say they have been told nothing about a rumored rise in investment costs caused by more expensive construction materials.

The region’s climate, developing economies and demographic growth are driving increased electricity demand in the Middle East and North Africa. However, as a hub of conventional energy supply, the region has been slow to embrace PV. To capture more of the value chain and deliver the full potential of solar, there are increasing calls for distributed generation deployment to play a bigger role.