MAGLIS EL DOWLA RATIFIES FIT PHASE ONE CONTRACTS: The Egyptian Council of State (Maglis El Dowla) has ratified the agreements for phase one of the feed-in tariff program, government sources tell Al Borsa. The agreement would be for companies that have chosen to remain under the phase one conditions of the FiT program, which enforces domestic arbitration, requires 85% of funding for the project to be sourced abroad but has a FiT rate of USD 0.14 per kWh for solar projects as opposed to USD 0.084 in phase two. Phase one companies are expected to sign the contracts in about 20 days’ time, said Gamal Abdel Rahim, head of the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company. Infinity Solar, Summit Egypt, and Saudi’s Al Fanar are reportedly set to meet the 26 October deadline to close on their phase one solar projects.

The state is now arranging reimbursements for those exiting FiT altogether, sources tell the newspaper. Three companies have formally written to the government of their intention to exit: Abdul Latif Jameel, Enel Green, and Cairo Solar. Other companies who have not signed on to phase one, have until 7 October to decide whether to accept phase one conditions, move to phase two terms, or exit the program altogether.