Construction work on the Benban Solar Park in Egypt started Tuesday in Ernest, Chinese green energy contractor TBEA Sunoasis has announced.
Lynn Xia, TBEA’s vice president of overseas business told media outlets that the company has kicked off construction of four solar power stations at the Benban Solar Park in the southern province of Aswan.
The solar plant, which occupies an area of 37 square km, will help Egypt increase its use of renewable energy to 22 percent of all domestic energy use by 2020
Terming the project as a game changer in renewable energy in Egypt, Xia said that the solar park will be one of the largest in the world.
The solar plant, which occupies an area of 37 square km, will help Egypt increase its use of renewable energy to 22 percent of all domestic energy use by 2020.
The Benban Solar Plant, after its completion, aims to generate up to 2 gigawatts of utility-scale solar capacity through a total of 40 projects.
The total cost of the project is expected to range between US$3.5 billion and US$4 billion. The project takeoff and completion will mainly depend on investments.
Read:Egypt constructs world’s largest solar park in Benban
Funders of the project include Africa Development Bank, IFC, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Arab Bank of Bahrain, CDC Group, Europe Arab Bank, Finance in Motion, FinnFund, ICBC, and OeEB of Austria.
“This project will help Egypt tap into its massive potential for solar energy and scale back its use of expensive—and polluting—fossil fuels. That’s especially important with the specter of climate change looming,” says Mouayed Makhlouf, IFC Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Egypt hopes that the project will help to reduce the costs of costly power lines, power substations and expensive hardware, which, in turn, is set to lower the cost of electricity.