First-Ever GE Turnkey Solar Plant Coming to Egypt

Eni
The Zohr Gas Field situated in the Mediterranean Sea, off the Egyptian coast. Baker Hughes, a GE company, was awarded a major subsea contract from Petrobel--a joint venture between IEOC (an Eni subsidiary in Egypt) and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC)--for phase two of the development of the natural gas field.
26 September 2017
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GE Africa (Lagos)

There are many ways a company can demonstrate its commitment to a country's development. For GE in Egypt, its latest example is an agreement to build a 50MW solar farm, the company's first turnkey solar power plant project anywhere in the world.

The new solar farm also demonstrates how GE is able to support project developer – FAS ENERGY – with a solution that covers the entire solar energy value chain, including financing.

"By taking the integrated system approach, we help de-risk the project and enhance the plant's reliability and revenues," said Azeez Mohammed, President & CEO of GE Power Conversion.

Once completed, the 50-megawatt plant located in Benban will provide enough electricity to meet the needs of 15,000 Egyptian homes. It will be owned by the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC).

Building on the country's landmark solar Feed-In Tariff (FiT) program, GE will provide a favorable payment scheme to help the customer kick off the project and improve the financing for the plant.

GE Working with Egypt on Power, Natural Gas and Solar Projects

GE Working with Egypt on Power, Natural Gas and Solar Projects

GE Grid Solutions is providing four gas-insulated substations that are critical elements of the power system that will help connect electricity to more than 6.5 million Egyptian homes. GE will be building in Egypt a 50MW solar farm, the company's first turnkey solar power plant project anywhere in the world. The extensive, complex deepwater infrastructure needed to extract natural gas from Egypt's Zohr gas field in the Mediterranian sea was awarded to Baker Hughes, a GE company. More about GE in Africa in this BRIEFING. 

GE will provide 4.4-MW solar skids featuring GE's LV5 1,500-volt solar inverters ,  marking the first entry of the 1,500-volt system into the solar market in Egypt. The new technology will help improve annual energy production and increase project revenues.

The highly efficient inverter skids can help lower system cost by up to 3% and maintenance costs by up to 15%, compared to its 1,000-volt peers. It also helps reduce costs associated with infrastructure, deployment and operation expenditures.

GE also will procure all plant assets, including solar modules, trackers and cables, provide the integrated system solution to the customer, and be responsible for the civil, mechanical and electrical works.

Read more about GE's commitment to Egypt here, and more on GE renewable power work in the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Pakistan here.

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