Workers set up photovoltaic panels in the solar park project in Goettelborn, near the western German city of Saarbruecken June 21, 2004. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A consortium of around 20 companies, including Munich Re, Siemens, RWE and Deutsche Bank, plans to build a 400 billion euro ($555.3 billion) solar power project in Africa, a Munich Re executive told a German newspaper on Tuesday.

The project, led by Munich Re, would use the energy from the Africa-based solar project to provide electricity to German households, Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek said in an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

The consortium members plan to meet in Munich on July 13 to set up the group formally, he added.

He decline to give details on members but said they include Siemens, RWE, Deutsche Bank, the German Economy Ministry and the Club of Roome -- a non-government group based in Zurich.

“We want to start an initiative that would present concrete plans in two to three years time,” Jeworrek said.