In 2018, Executive-President of Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) Mohammed al-Khayat signed a soft loan agreement valued at JPY11.3 billion (approximately US$106 million) with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to establish the first photo-voltaic system power plant a capacity of 20 Megawatt (MW) in Hurghada, saving an oil equivalent of about 7,000 tonnes, and limiting carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 17,000 tonnes. The new plant will store electricity through batteries during rush hour and feeds the national network with electricity during night. Khayat previewed the project with Minister of Electricity Mohammed Shaker, saying that the project will include an eco-friendly information centre which will be run by renewable energy. The centre, which includes a conference hall with a 120 person capacity, will be provided with modern equipment to train staff in the electricity field in both private and public sectors. The project is targeted to produce electricity from 2019 onwards.
There are two practical technologies at the moment to generate solar electricity within this context: concentrated solar power (CSP) and regular photovoltaic solar panels. Each technology has its pros and cons. Concentrated solar power uses lenses/mirrors to focus the sun’s energy in one spot, creating incredibly heat that generates electricity through conventional steam turbines. Some systems use molten salt to store energy, allowing electricity to be produced at night. CSP seems to be more suitable to the Egyptian/Sahara region due to the direct sun, lack of clouds and high temperatures which makes it more efficient. However the lenses and mirrors could be covered by sand storms, while the turbine and steam heating systems remain complex technologies. But the most important drawback of the technology is its use of scarce water resources.
Both technologies might need some amount of water to clean the mirrors and panels depending on the weather, which also makes water an important factor to consider. Most researchers suggest integrating the two main technologies to develop a hybrid system.
THE SAHARA REGION COULD BECOME THE WORLD’S LARGEST SOLAR ENERGY RESOURCE PROVIDER:
Just a small portion of the Sahara could produce as much energy as the entire continent of Africa does at present. As solar technology improves, things will only get cheaper and more efficient. The Sahara may be inhospitable for most plants and animals, but it could bring sustainable energy to life across North Africa – and beyond.
Most of the world’s largest desert is covered with rocks and sand dunes. The two countries with the highest percentage of desert are Libya (99 percent) and Egypt (98 percent). The Saharan sun is powerful enough to provide a significant solar energy supply. If the desert were a country, it would be the fifth largest in the world – larger than Brazil and slightly smaller than China and the US. Each square metre of the Sahara receives, on average, between 2,000 and 3,000 kilowatt hours of solar energy per year, according to NASA estimates. Given that the Sahara covers about 9m km², the total energy available, if every part of the desert soaked up every bit of the sun’s energy, is more than 22 billion gigawatt hours (GWh) a year.
A hypothetical solar farm that covered the entire desert would produce 2,000 times more energy than even the largest power stations in the world, which generate barely 100,000 GWh a year. In fact, its output would be equivalent to more than 36 billion barrels of oil per day. That’s around 5 barrels per person per day. In this scenario, the Sahara could potentially produce more than 7 times the electricity requirements of Europe, with almost no carbon emissions. The Sahara has the added advantage of being very close to Europe. The shortest distance between North Africa and Europe is just 15km at the Strait of Gibraltar. But even much further distances, across the main width of the Mediterranean, are eminently practical, considering that the world’s longest underwater power cable runs for approximately 600km between Norway and the Netherlands.
Scientists have seriously postulated that desert solar could meet an ever increasing local energy demand and potentially provide solar generated electrical power to Europe well into the future. In practice, these academic insights have already been translated into serious plans. The highest profile attempt to date was Desertec, a project announced in 2009 that quickly acquired lots of funding from various banks and energy firms before largely collapsing when most investors pulled out five years later, citing high costs. Such projects are traditionally held back by a variety of political, commercial and social factors, including a lack of rapid development in the region. More recent proposals include the TuNur project in Tunisia, which aims to power more than 2m European homes, or the Noor Complex Solar Power Plant in Morocco which also aims to export energy to Europe.
In December 2018 Officials in the Egyptian Ministry of electricity and renewable energy revealed details of Egypt’s plans to export its own electricity surplus to Europe. The plans are set to be executed in cooperation with the Cypriot government. Sources pointed out that the electrical interconnector is designed to deliver 3000 MW of high voltage direct current power. The interconnection point is located in Egypt 100 KM west of Damietta. Egypt and Cyprus agreed, through the Ministry of Electricity in both countries, to assign the project to Africa International Euro Company within a budget of $US1.5 billion. Egyptian officials from the Ministry of Electricity met with their Cypriot counterparts in January to discuss the project, expecting it to start in 2019, with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al Sisi and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades signing the final contracts before mid 2019. Africa International Euro conducted a feasibility study for the project that will turn Egypt into a major center of solar energy supply for three continents.
Egypt’s Minister of Electricity and Renewable energy Mohamed Shaker.
