Solar Projects
Since entering the solar photovoltaic industry in 2013, GILA Electric has invested and expanded significantly. The Company has co-developed 200+ MWp solar PV utility scale project in the Benban Solar Park in less than 10 years.
Winnergy
In its attempt to increase the proportion of electricity generated by renewable energy sources, the Egyptian government launched the Solar Feed-in Tariff (FiT) Program. GILA Electric qualified in the program’s initial round before being awarded 25MWp development as part of the 1.8 GW Benban Solar Park in the second round. The development came to be known as Winnergy.
In partnership with Enerray SPA and Desert Technology, GILA Electric led the development of the project. Successfully achieving financial close with a syndicate of international lenders led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and including British International Investment (BII) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Q3 2018, the project achieved commercial operation in September 2019.
With an investment cost in excess of USD 29M, the project is promising and delivering high return rates over the contracted term of 25 years with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company at a rate of 0.084 USD/kwh.
GILA Electric’s technical team supervised the construction of the project and undertook
the operation and maintenance of the plant since its COD in 2019.
Alcom
GILA Electric is a shareholder in Alcom Power Plant solar energy project that is located in Benban Solar Park, in partnership with ACWA Power International.
The PV power plant has a DC capacity of 70 MWp, offsetting 81,170 ton of CO2 emissions per year.
The off-taker of the project is the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company EETC and the project has been in commercial operation since Q3 2019.
TK
Alongside venture partner ACWA Power, GILA Electric was awarded the TK solar PV Plant development in the Benban Solar Park complex, of which it owns 50%.
Achieving financial close with European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the project reached commercial operation in Q3 2019.
As like Winnergy and Introsolar, the project is part of the Fit Program and procures a similarly structured PPA backed up by a sovereign guarantee.
The PV power plant has a DC capacity of 28MWp annually offsetting 34,610 tons of CO2 emission per year.
Benban One
In addition to GILA Electric partnership in TK and Alcom, GILA Electric is also a shareholder in Benban One solar energy project which is located in Benban Solar Park along with Acwa Power International.
The PV power plant has a DC capacity of 68 MWp, offsetting 80,158 ton of CO2 emission per year.
Intro Solar
As a part of the Egyptian governmental movement towards achieving Egypt’s goal of increasing the supply of electricity generation from renewable sources to 20% by 2022 and 42% by 2035, GILA Electric led the development and construction of a 5 MW grid-connected solar PV power plant in partnership with Schneider Electric and Intro Group.
The project was launched in October 2017 and is currently operated by GILA Electric personal. The project was inaugurated during the signing ceremony presided by the previous President of France, Francois Hollande, and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi of Egypt in 2016.
This development is part of Egypt’s sovereign backed FiT program Round One, which was ratified by the Egyptian Government in 2014.
The PV power plant is located in Sharm El-Sheikh and is connected to the grid through the canal electricity distribution network. The plant is to operate for 25 years, with an estimated production of 9.7 GWh/year while attenuating around 5,000 ton/year of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Intro Taw
Intro-Taw is the second PV power plant developed, constructed, and to be operated by GILA Electric in partnership with Intro group in Sharm El-Sheikh.
In line with the Egyptian target of covering 42% of the country’s electricity needs by 2035 through renewable energy sources, GILA Electric continues to work with South Sinai Governorate to develop 40 MWs of solar PV capacity starting with the two projects in Sharm El-Sheikh. Using the highest technologies of single-axis tracking, GILA Electric’s sister company (Al-Tawakol NTT) supplied the project with the steel structure.
The PV panels used are bifacial half-cut cell panels meeting the latest technologies in the market.
Building this PV power plant contributed to the government’s preparation for hosting the Conference of Parties (COP27), the United Nations’ annual conference on curbing the effects of climate change, The plant is to generate an average of 13 GWh of renewable energy per year, offsetting over 7,000 tons of CO2 per year.
Inverter Retrofit Benban
GILA Electric was awarded -as the main contractor- the inverters retrofit project for 3 plants in Benban Solar Park with a total capacity of 116MWdc in Q3 2020.
The goal of the project was to replace the central inverters on site with new Sungrow central inverters while the plants are in operation, with minimum interruption in the plants’ energy production.
The project was supervised by Tractebel/PGESCO for the 3 plants (Arc – 67.5MWp, Arinna – 25MWp and Winnergy – 25MWp). Engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) were successfully completed reaching TOC in Q1 2021.
