The Egyptian government signed an agreement with Italy’s “Eni”, an Italian oil and gas exploration company, to build a solar power plant in the Red Sea.
The negotiations began last January, during which both parties reached a final agreement; the establishment of a 50 megawatt plant that required an investment estimated at $ 50 million.
The negotiations have seen some differences on the proportion of Egypt’s benefit from the project, as well as the participation rate of Egyptian workforce. The two sides also disagreed about the location of the station, where ENI insisted on its establishment in the area of ”Abu Redis” Red Sea, while Egypt offered other areas.
The Ministry of Electricity conducted the negotiations with ENI in addition to 5 other companies to implement the solar power plant on the “IPP” basis (Independent Power Production).
Egypt received offers with superior benefits to implement this project, but the government prefered Eni’s offer, as it will set up other stations in the country in the short term.
Since last February, the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity received 3 bids from Chinese, UAE and Egyptian companies for the implementation of IPP projects worth about $ 400 million.
