Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly announced the launch of the trial of the first central solar energy plant lighting along 4km of the Tiba-Qena eastern desert road. The launch comes besides the launching of a solar energy plant with the capacity of 90 KW in New Tiba City. The road lighting and the plant operation comes in the context of Egypt's orientation to use sustainable energy, and to rationalise energy consumption in new cities, Madbouly said in a statement on Sunday. The project targets finding solutions for energy efficiency and dependency on new and renewable energy. It comes in light of cabinet directives to light streets in new cities using solar energy and LED lamps, the minister added. Madbouly added that several solar energy plants are currently being implemented in numerous new cities, including Sadat City, 15th of May City and New Minya, as well as the New Urban Communities Authority's (NUCA) building in Sheikh Zayed. The solar energy solutions were implemented by the Arab International Optics Company, affiliated with the armed forces' National Service Products Organization (NSPO), according to NUCA deputy head Kamal Fahmy. He added that NUCA has organised a specialised training course for solar cells systems to produce electricity and solar water heaters through the initiative named "Your Sun Egypt" in the energy consumption unit of the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) The improvement of energy efficiency in all new cities is amongst sustainable activities of the sustainable cities and renewable energy unit, established by ministerial decree in August 2014. The unit will expand the use of solar and renewable energy technologies, Fahmy said.
