Will sun beams really light up the night, asks Amira El-Noshokaty Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Electricity and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) officially brought into being Egypt's first solar electricity generation facility. According to Samir Hassan, executive chairman of the NREA, though Egypt has launched several pilot projects of the same kind in the 1970s, they were all on a small scale and did not prove sustainable. Solar electricity generation is an expensive if increasingly unavoidable process (since fossil fuels are fast running out) and at Koraimat, where the present, larger scale project is underway, the idea is to produce electricity using the sun in combination with fuels: "this technology is limited to four countries selected by the World Bank: Morocco, Mexico, India and Egypt. It started four years ago on a $300 million budget, with $50 million handed to each country to start with." In addition, Egypt received a $170 million loan from the Japan Electric Power Information Centre (JEPIC), to be repaid at an interest of 0.75 per cent over 40 years; National Bank of Egypt pitched in to cover the rest. "The Koraimat solar station is expected to generate 140 megawatts on more than 17 feddans," Hassan announced, explaining that construction work will start within six months; the station should start to generate electricity by 2009. "Meanwhile," he said, "the world will be watching as the first electricity generating station on such a large scale comes into being. Needless to say, the Middle East is among the sunniest areas in the world, and could be a major source of clean energy worldwide. We could even export it..." Nor will electricity be the only high-tech use of the sun: thermal energy is spreading too. Costing LE3,000-4,000 to set up, solar heaters are now produced by eight companies and tested at the NREA; they are available through electric-appliance outlets. Many consumers -- like government employee Magda Ibrahim -- are excited about solar energy as "not only clean but safe": Ibrahim's brother, who lives with her, barely survived electrocution in the bathroom, where the electric heater was leaking unbeknown to anyone in the house; the brother was saved, but no one dared keep the heater on while showering even after it was repaired. "I would love to switch to solar heater, even if its initial costs are higher -- it would dramatically cut my electricity bill -- but the problem is that, since I don't own my small apartment, the landlord could prevent access to the rooftop; it wouldn't be the first time he did that." Harby Mohamed, a taxi driver who shared a solar heater with four other apartments, on being relocated to Qattamiyah following the 1992 earthquake, says the appliance is perfectly efficient, but in his new apartment in Agouza he cannot afford to install one. This is a common enough reaction in Cairo, but in rural Upper Egypt the idea has picked up, thanks in part to the efforts of the Coptic Evangelic Organisation for Social Services (CEOSS) over the last several years, when solar heaters began to replace gas heaters as a safer alternative particularly suited to mud-brick roofs in privately owned houses. But while they have been accepted in Minya and Beni Sweif, for example, CEOSS strategies have failed in Cairo, where accidents are less frequent, apartments are rented out and set-up costs remain a major disincentive. For his part Hassan was regretful: "I hope that the people will consider putting up a solar heater, since they don't seem to have a problem with satellite dishes -- at least. It would make a real difference." Said Sabri, head of the Energy and Climate Change Unit at the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), agrees: the project is part of the EEAA programme to switch to clean energy, a crucial side of sustainable development. This project is affiliated to the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project, part of the Kyoto protocol which calls for technology transfer industry from developed countries to developing ones. This process includes a number of projects that have so far reached 36. Out of the this figure, eight have been dedicated to renewable energy between 2005 to 2007. Sabri highlighted the environmental damage caused by fossil fuel-based energy, thermal and electric alike: particulate and gaseous pollutants like nitrogen and sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons as well as carbon dioxide are health hazards that contribute to climate change. He praised the switch from 100 per cent fuel-based generation to 95 per cent natural gas in thermal stations for electricity generation. The 600 megawatts of electricity generated annually by windmills, he added, will save some 540,000 tonnes of oil and petrol and reduce carbon dioxide emission by some 250,000 tonnes. Egypt is one of the Sun Belt countries where direct solar radiation ranges from 2,000 to 3,000 k/w/h per sq-m The Koraimat station, continued Sabri, is a combined solar and thermal station where 30 mega watts are generated via solar energy while the rest of the 120 mega watts are generated by natural gas. This switch results in the decrease of approximately 38,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually and would save up to some 14,000 tonnes of oil annually.
