The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) is ready to sign power purchase agreements with renewable energy companies under the feed-in tariff program as soon as they reach financial close, Al Borsa says. The Finance Ministry approved investors’ letters of guarantee on Tuesday, one day after the EETC informed them during a meeting that they would be picking up the bill for 15-20% increases in the costs of infrastructure works being carried out under the terms of their cost-sharing agreement. The exact increase will be specified in letters sent to companies in phases one and two over the next two weeks, but will be no less than 35% according to Borsa. The meeting took place one day after the Electricity Ministry announced it would not be increasing the feed-in tariff as solar power companies had been urging for months. With costs on the rise, 10 solar power companies have relocated their projects from Zaafarana to Aswan’s Benban make use of the government’s cost-sharing agreement with the 23 other companies already at work there and cut the extra time and money needed to build new infrastructure to tie them the national grid, Al Borsa also says. (Al Shahid Law Firm provides a neat breakdown of the meeting’s key points here).

Tags: