Norwegian project developer Scatec Solar has signed 25-year solar projects with the government of Egypt.

The schemes, all of which are located in the BenBan area near Aswan, were selected by the country’s Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy in the 2GW auction for large scale solar projects held in 2015, PV Magazine informed.

According to Scatec Solar’s Regional Director, Morten Langsholdt, 40 solar power plants would be established in BenBan and the company is expected to pump 0m in Egypt by October.

The solar plants are to be completed by 2018 with a capacity of 1800MW, Ahram Online informed.

In addition, Egypt aims to increase its use of renewable energy to 22% by 2020, the country’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr, told Langsholdt during their meeting in Cairo.

According to an official press release by the Ministry, Nasr also told Langsholdt that Egypt is keen on achieving sustainable development through the use of renewable energy.