Saudi developer ACWA Power is planning to invest between $10-12bn in Egypt in the next five years, its chairman Mohammad Abunayyan has announced.
The company is determined to strongly invest in the Egyptian power generation sector at both renewable and traditional levels, by adding around 10,000 megawatts to Egypt’s national electricity grid, Abunayyan added.
ACWA power has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) to establish solar and wind plants in the West Nile area.
Mohamed Salah El-Sobky, the executive chairman of NREA said that the MoU with ACWA Power also aims to establish solar and wind electricity plants in the West Nile area, in addition to three plants the company is implementing under its a renewable energy enhancement programme that will have a capacity factor of 150 MW.
While the Egyptian market does not have a well-developed renewable energy sector, Abunayyan hopes that future investments will augment renewable energy’s share of the energy market to 20% by 2022 with a total capacity factor of 9,000.
Hassan Amin, Country Manager at ACWA Power, said Egypt’s power sector is able to lure new investments worth $30 billion in the next five years, backed by having legislative reforms and investment incentives provided by the country’s government.
ACWA Power is sponsoring the Saudi-Egypt Business Opportunities Forum, which takes place in Cairo on Saturday, and aims to review aspects of enhancing trade exchange and investment in various sectors between the two countries.
The forum is set to witness the signing of several trade and investment agreements between Egyptian and Saudi investors.
