Juwi Renewable Energies, the South African subsidiary of Germans Juwi Holding AG, together with Giza Systems, a leading systems integrator in the MEA region, have been awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for a solar-plus-storage project at Sukari gold mine in Egypt.

The announcement was made by Centamin Plc, a mineral exploration, development, and mining company that together with the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources exploits the mine which is located in the Nubian Desert/Eastern Desert near the Red Sea.

Currently, the mine operates off-grid and relies completely on a diesel power station, a situation that Centamin expects to change through the establishment of the approximately US$ 37M new energy solution that takes advantage of the location of the mine, characterized by high solar irradiance.

The area has an average of over ten hours of sunshine a day throughout the year.

Project overview 

Giza Systems will install the solar farm component while Juwi will design, supply, and integrate the 36-MW solar plant and the 7.5 MW battery unit into the existing diesel power system.

The solar portion of the project will utilize bifacial PV modules and a single-axis tracking system. The entire project will be integrated into the existing off-grid network using Juwi Hybrid IQ micro-grid technology to support the diesel units.

In a separate statement, the renewable energy company said that it will operate and maintain the hybrid plant, which is expected to start operation in the second quarter of next year, post-commissioning.

Benefits of the project

“The renewable energy solution is expected to lower operating costs at the Sukari mine, save between US$ 9M and US$ 13M in annual fuel costs, and reduce exposure to fuel price volatility, among other benefits,” said Centamin.