It is a group of solar power plants, including 32 solar power plants with a capacity of 1,465 MW, of which 17 are service stations, with a total of 830 MW, and it is planned to actually enter 15 other plants.
operation during this period. In 2019, the cost of the project amounted to 2 billion US dollars, and 32 companies participated in the project to build the station and won the most prominent projects of the World Bank.
The project is located in the city of Aswan, 35 kilometers north of the village of Hunsaka, and after the project is completed, it will be implemented. It became the largest factory in the world.
Project launch
The project was launched in September 2014 as part of the Egyptian government’s 2035 Sustainable Energy Strategy. At first, NASA helped find the best place to build a solar park.
The solar plant on this panel covers an area of 37.2 square kilometers (14.4 square miles), divided into 41 independent plots arranged in 4 rows, each with an area ranging from 0.3 square kilometers to 1 square kilometer. Each plot of land will be used by different companies to develop 41 types of factories.
41 power plants from the Benban Solar Power Plant will be connected to the high voltage grid through four new substations, which will be built on site by the Egyptian Energy Transmission Company.
These substations will, in turn, connect to an existing 220 kV line that passes close to the Benban site at a distance of approximately 12 km. At a later stage, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company may also establish an additional connection to the adjacent 500 kV line.
According to the measurements in the Environmental and Social Assessment Report, the solar site resource is about 2,300 kWh/(m2/year). Assuming a peak insolation of 1,000 W/m2, this translates to a potential factory power factor of approximately 26%, meaning the average capacity would be 26% of the panel capacity. If the planned capacity of 1.8 GW is used, the potential annual energy production will be just over 4 TWh/year.
Finance
On March 13, 2018, the first part of the complex was inaugurated in the presence of the Egyptian Minister of Energy, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Shaker Al-Marqabi. With a capacity of 64.1 megawatts, it is also the first large-scale photovoltaic power plant in the country. The project received financing from Bayern LP for 85% of the debt, while the remaining 15% came from the Arab African International Bank. As part of Germany’s foreign trade promotion program, it supports Egypt’s goal of meeting more than a third of its energy needs by 2035 through renewable energies.
IFC led a consortium of African Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Arab Bank of Bahrain, CDC Group, European Arab Bank, Green for Growth, Finn Fund, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China by pledging $653 million US dollars to finance construction. The 13 plants are operated by six groups of private energy companies.
The 13 solar power plants, which are expected to have a maximum capacity of 752 MW, will cost US$823 million.
Assuming a power factor of 26%, this corresponds to an annual production of 1.75 TWh/year.
The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency will also provide $210 million in political risk insurance for 12 projects within Benban.
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