Thirty-three local and international companies have presented their bids for the tender launched by the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) to set up a 20 MW solar plant in Kom Ombo with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), said a report.

This plant will add approximately 40 GWh to the national electricity grid, in addition to reducing the carbon resulting from the generation of electricity, equivalent to 15,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, reported Daily News Egypt.

The AFD will provide a loan of €40 million ($42.3 million) to finance the establishment of the plant, it stated.

The list of the companies includes the Egyptian-Chinese Alliance, Tebian Electric Apparatus as well as Sterling and Wilson, Générale du Solaire, Complete Energy Solutions, Orascom Construction, Nasr Solar, and Infinity Solar Systems, said the report.

The project consists of photovoltaic cells that convert solar light into direct current, as well as inverters that convert direct current into alternating current.

The government has already signed up DNV Kema and Engineering Research & Consulting Company to prepare technical and economic feasibility studies and its impact on communities and the environment, it added.