The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy plans to launch tenders for the establishment of 500 MW solar power plants during the first quarter of 2018, Al Borsa News reported.

Arab and international firms have submitted their offers to the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) to construct solar power plant with capacities ranging between 100 MW and 200 MW, but the NREA informed the investors that it will launch tenders for the plants execution and the companies can bid in these tenders.

The tenders that are planned to be launched are regarding the establishment of solar plants in Aswan, and Minya, under the terms of Build-Own-Operate (BOO) contracts.

The Egyptian government had signed 13 agreements in with a banking consortium led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in October, to fund the construction of 13 solar-power plants with a total capacity of 590 megawatts (MW), Egypt Oil & Gas reported.

While the loan package is worth $653 million, the total cost for the plants is expected to reach $823 million, according to Al Mal News.