Arabian Cement Co amends solar power contract

Arabian Cement Co (ACC) has announced the signing of an amendment to its 2019 contract with Amarenco SolarizEgypt (ASE) to establish a Solar Photovoltaic (PV) plant at its Suez facility. The amendment to the agreement aligns with updated regulations recently issued by 'EgyptERA', the Egyptian Electric Utility and Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency.

The adjusted contract limits the total solar capacity contracted to 30MW with a maximum of 25MW per one project. Currently, the total solar energy in ACC's plant has reached a capacity of 20.6MW after commissioning Phase 1 which has been in production since 2019 with capacity of 7441kWp which granted approximately 1000MW/month (MW/month), representing up to three per cent of ACC’s overall electrical consumption. ACC had previously dedicated 110,000m² to the plant in Phase 1 before allocating a new space for the additional phase expanding to 155,000m² to install the solar cells for Phase 2. The overall generated CO₂ savings from Phase 2 is approximately 13,000tpa in addition to currently saving around 5500tpa of CO₂ emissions out of Phase 1. 

Building on the new adjusted contract, construction is set to start in 12 weeks from the new contract’s signature for a forecasted period of 36 weeks. The actual commissioning and startup of operations is expected in September 2023.