Voltalia starts construction of the world’s largest solar complex

Renewable energy giant Voltalia has announced the beginning of the construction of Râ Solar, its first solar power plant in Africa.

Râ Solar, a 32 MW solar power plant located in the Ben Ban complex, in the Aswan region (Upper Egypt) and the project will benefit from a 25-year power sales contract with the state-owned Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (“EETC”), which will come into effect starting from the commissioning of the plant, scheduled for H2 2019. The contract was signed upon an official visit of president Abdel-Fatah al-Sissi in Paris in October 2017. 

With a 1.8 GW capacity, the Ben Ban solar PV complex is the world’s largest solar cluster. It will contribute to achieve the 2 GW target of solar installed capacity set by Egypt within the scope of the Paris Agreement in 2015. In addition, the overall Ben Ban cluster is expected to avoid 2 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year while improving access to an affordable and clean energy in Egypt. 

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Râ Solar is the first power plant to be developed, constructed and managed by Voltalia on the African continent. It will be equipped with 93,150 Suntech photovoltaic panels of a 345 W unit capacity mounted on a single axis with trackers and, at peak, around 150 people will be working on site.

Voltalia is currently developing many projects in Africa. In Egypt, the Group has announced its ambition to develop a 800 MW portfolio in the next 5 to 8 years, for its own account and for third-party clients.