Cairo – Mubasher: Hassan Allam Holding has completed the construction of a 50-megawatt solar power plant in Benban Solar Park in the Upper Egypt governorate of Aswan in partnership with Taqa Arabia, a subsidiary of Qalaa Holdings, at a cost of EGP 1.35 billion, a source familiar with the matter said.

The plant is now connected to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission’s (EETC) substation and is subject to trial operation before linking it to the national electricity grid within the framework of the second phase of the feed-in tariff programme, Enterprise reported, citing the source.

The plant will generate 154 million kilowatt hour per year when it starts commercial operation this month and it will produce only around 65,371 tonnes carbon emissions per year.

The solar power plant project is being backed by a loan facility from both the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector arm, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

In August, Qalaa Holdings announced its first investment in generating solar power through photovoltaic (PV) cells at a cost of EGP 1.35 billion in Aswan in collaboration with Hassan Allam Holding.

Revenues of the project are expected to stand at around EGP 10.8 million per annum, Qalaa Holdings said.