Egypt has awarded Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA (ACS) a contract for a solar thermal power plant. The Spanish company’s renewable energy division, Cobra, and Egyptian officials are discussing the possibility of building a generator that could produce up to 100 MW of solar energy, according to Egypt’s assistant minister for scientific research Maged Al Sherbiny.
The deal has Egypt giving ACS a 25-year fixed price for its solar power, use of the generator site for 99 years, and tax breaks on the construction materials. However, Spain is suffering from a backlash related to its renewable energy feed-in tariff, resulting in a significant decrease in solar projects with investor appetite steadily declining. BusinessWeek reported solar industry executives saying that they were cautious particularly because of the legal framework – or lack thereof – currently present in Egypt. Cobra Managing Director Antonio Gomez saying, “Look what’s happening to us [in Spain] with renewable [energy] tariffs.”
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