File Photo: Engineers walk next to solar panels at Benban Solar Park. Photo: AFP
The project will be implemented by an alliance of Enppi and Petrojet, the two arms of the petroleum ministry in the fields of engineering designs, general contracting and construction.
The cells are set for completion in 11 months, the ministry added.
The project is part of the ministry’s plan to enhance energy transformation and reduce emissions, the ministry noted.
The ministry is working on a similar project to establish solar power grids with a capacity of 6.5 megawatts at the General Petroleum Company in Cairo at an investment cost of EGP 500 million.
Focus has shifted towards considering solar energy as a potential solution in response to the recent increase in electricity prices and the frequent power outages in Egypt.
The two projects will be financed through a grant provided by the European Union within the Support for Energy Policy Reform programme, the ministry added.
Both projects will help address the increasing electricity needs by households and the industrial sector, the petroleum ministry said.
The solar power grid will also help save petroleum fuels used in power generation, the ministry added.
Egypt seeks to increase reliance on alternative and sustainable energy sources to reduce the load on the national electricity grid.
Since 2014, the government has partnered with development banks to attract private investments in the renewable energy sector.
Egypt has also implemented multiple renewable energy projects over the past decade, including the Benban Solar Park in Upper Egypt's Aswan, which houses more than 32 solar energy projects from photovoltaic cells with a total capacity of 1,465 megawatts.
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