INVESTMENT WATCH- Egypt gets offers from companies interested in building up to 5.5 GW of renewable power: Egypt has received offers from regional and international companies to build renewable power generation facilities with a total capacity of 5500 MW, Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker told local press. Tariffs for solar power are set to fall in the upcoming period from USD 0.0275/kwh at the last solar energy tender and about USD 0.03/kwh at the last wind energy tender, Shaker said. The waste-to-energy tariff will be revised after five years, during which it will be fixed at EGP 1.03/kwh.

Shaker said his ministry is encouraging companies to build projects through the independent power producer (IPP) system and sell energy directly to consumers after paying national grid transmission costs. The minister gave no further details, but effectively confirmed earlier reports that suggested the ministry might be ditching the feed-in-tariff program going forward in favor of the IPP. The Electricity Ministry is also considering awarding projects through an auction system to save time.