The National Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) will announce next month a tender to establish a 20-megawatt (MW) solar power plant in Hurghada, a government official reportedly told Al-Borsa.

The power plant will use photovoltaic (PV) cells with a generation capacity of 20 MW and will be the first in Egypt to use an energy storage battery system (BESS) to support the grid at night and during rush hours.

The project will be financed through an $85-million loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

It is expected that the solar power plant will cut 17,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions by saving 7,000 tons of oil equivalent.

Moreover, the Hurghada project will include a “Zero Energy Building” information center that will be equipped with all the needed modern facilities to become a leading international training center in the field among private and public sector entities.

The Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy seeks to produce 20% of Egypt’s energy mix through renewable sources by 2022, targeting $2.5 billion investments, supported by the feed-in-tariff (FiT) system.