Noha Khidr, Egypt's ambassador to Dakar, met with Sophie Gladima, Senegalese Minister of Mines and Geology, to discuss ways to increase cooperation between the two countries in the fields of energy and petroleum.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced the completion of Egypt’s Benban solar power park, worth $4 billion, saying: “After three years of work, construction of one of the largest solar parks in the world is now complete and all its plots are now operational.”

The National Renewable Energy Resources (NREA) prepares to link 1,465 megawatts (MW) solar to the national grid of electricity in October.

The projects’ capacity is 130 megawatt peak (MWp), with estimated annual 290-gigawatt per hour (GWh) of electricity produced by both projects, which will power more than 140,000 households while avoiding more than 120,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year.

The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Corporation (EETC) and GE Grid Solution, a General Electric (GE) company, signed a contract to establish a monitoring center in the Benban Solar Park in Aswan.

The commercial operation announcement is the second out of six plants in Benban.

Benban Solar Park will cover around 37 km2 of desert with solar panels in 2019, providing around 1.8 Gigawatt (GW) of electricity.

The announcement was made during the India-Africa Project Partnership conclave that took place on March 17 – 19 in New Delhi.

Companies working in Benban solar park completed 30% of the solar power plants' construction at the end of February 2019.

The main reason behind this upsurge is the infrastructure prices increase and the construction of a central station and weight control room.