Solar power plant with investments worth LE700M to operate in Q3 of 2022

CAIRO - 9 May 2022:  The implementation of a solar cell plant in Zafarana area to produce electricity with a capacity of 50 MW is underway, according to the New and Renewable Energy Authority.

 

The Authority stated that the plant will start its operation in the third quarter of 2022, with total investments of about LE 700 million.

 

This came in the Authority's eleventh periodic bulletin, which included a monitoring of renewable energy activities during the third quarter of the fiscal year (2022/2021), which shows the progress of work in the fields of hydro, solar, wind, and biomass.

 

The bulletin stated that a number of memoranda of understanding were signed for the production of green hydrogen from renewable energy projects, and the first estimates of the total productivity of the first phase of these projects from green hydrogen exceed the 1.5 million tons barrier, while the total of all stages exceeds 5 million tons, which indicates Egypt's competitiveness in this field. It is enriched with natural resources, both in terms of distinct wind speeds, and rates of brightness of solar radiation, as well as 3,000 km of coastlines on the Red and Mediterranean Bahrain, in addition to the advanced infrastructure.

 

This is in addition to the progress of the installation work of the 250 megawatt wind power project in the Gulf of Suez region, which is expected to be operational in the second half of 2023, and the authority has succeeded in selling about 2.5 million carbon certificates, which indicates the tangible progress of investment in clean energy in Egypt. 

 

The bulletin showed that the production of hydroelectric power during the third quarter of the fiscal year (2021-2022) reached 2,654 gigawatts per hour, while wind energy projects recorded about 1,133 gigawatts per hour, while the energy produced from solar cells connected to the grid amounted to about 949 gigawatts per hour. This is in addition to about 22 GWh generated from biofuel projects.

 

During the same period, this contributed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 2,256 tons of carbon dioxide and creating fuel savings of approximately 881 thousand tons of oil equivalent, which highlights the great role of renewable energy in confronting climate change, which is expected to be held in the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties COP27, in Next November in Sharm El Sheikh.

 

The capacities of the projects under development witnessed a remarkable increase, reaching 3,570 megawatts, with foreign direct investments of approximately $3.5 billion, double its counterpart in 2020. Of these, 78% are for wind energy projects in the Gulf of Suez region on the Red Sea coast with high wind speeds, and 22% for energy solar.

 

On the other hand, the same period witnessed the import of many renewable energy tasks, especially the requirements of the wind power station in the Gulf of Suez and solar cells, where 24 batteries and 2008 changers were imported, which indicates the growing role of these projects in meeting part of the demand for electricity.