Egypt signs MOU with China's GCL for $2 bln solar panel factory

Colabor

10/05/2018 14:03

CAIRO, May 10 (Reuters) - China's GCL Group has signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Egypt's ministry of
military production to build a solar panel facility at a cost of
up to $2 billion, state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported on
Thursday.
    Under the MOU, which was signed on Wednesday, the facility
will manufacture panels capable of producing 5 gigawatts (GW)
annually, it said, without mentioning the location or timeframe
of the project.
    Egypt in 2014 announced extensive plans to develop renewable
energy targeting 4.3 GW of wind and solar projects to be
installed over three years, but many investors pulled out
following contract disputes.
    Egypt aims to meet 20 percent of its energy needs from
renewable sources by 2022.
    President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former general who took
office in 2014, has promised to revive the economy, which has
struggled since a 2011 uprising scared away investors and
tourists, Egypt's main sources of foreign currency.
    He has called in the military to assist in major
infrastructure projects and with distribution of subsidised
commodities to help curb price rises.   
    The economic weight of the military, which produces
everything from bottled water to macaroni, has long been a topic
of speculation in Egypt but official comment on its economic
activities is rare.
    Sisi said in March that the military's economic activities
were equivalent to 2-3 percent of GDP, well below the more than
50 percent that some have claimed.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1R27D0 

 (Reporting by Amina Ismail)
 ((amina.ismail@thomsonreuters.com; +20 2 2394 8114;))