Renewable energy producer, Alcazar Energy has announced the completion and commencement of commercial operation of its Alcazar Energy Egypt Solar 1 (AEES1) PV project, located in Benban Solar Park in Aswan, Egypt.

According to a statement from the company, AEES1 is one of the four projects being developed by the energy producer in Benban, each with a capacity of 64 MWp (a total of 256 MWp) which are part of the Nubian Suns development scheme led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in unison with the World Bank, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the Government of Egypt.

Commenting on the commercial operation of AEES1, Daniel Calderon, Co-Founder & CEO of Alcazar Energy said: “It is with great pride that Alcazar Energy can confirm that AEES1 is the first of thirty projects from the Round 2 FIT programme to realise timely commercial operation within budget.”

“The completion of AEES1 marks an important milestone for our company and we are fortunate to play a role in a programme of this scale which is testament to the spirit of partnership and cooperation required from governments, developers, investors and lenders in mobilising large infrastructure projects such as Benban.”

He added that together with their projects in Jordan and Egypt, the combined capacity will reach 411 MW in the region for the company.

Daniel Lancha, Head of Delivery & Operations at Alcazar Energy further stated: “Over 2,000 direct and indirect jobs have been created during construction across the four projects, with our three remaining projects currently underway, targeting commercial operation by end of February.”

“21 different contractors and subcontractors were appointed on the project, 16 of which were Egyptian companies. At its peak the AEES1 project employed 685 people, 274 of whom were from the local communities and 286 from the rest of Egypt,” he added.

AEES1’s project cost is estimated at $68.6 million, financed by loans from IFC, lead arranger, Asian Infrastructure Investment bank (AIIB), African Development Bank Group and CDC Group and equity from Alcazar Energy. The project was constructed by a joint venture between TSK and Enviromena.

The statement also said that together, all four of the Benban solar PV projects are expected to generate approximately $31.5 million in gas savings from the displacement of fossil fuels, in addition to saving 311,500 tones of carbon dioxide and 680,300 cubic metre of water per year.