(DNE Photo)
Amid Egypt’s energy crisis and worsening power outages, the government has indicated that new and renewable energy could be part of the solution. The Daily News Egypt conducted an interview with Wael El Nashar, board director and chairman of “Onera Systems”, a renewable energy company.
Will Onera Systems manufacture solar cells in Egypt instead of importing them?
The company intends to found a solar-cell factory in 6th of October City directly after the government’s announcement of a distinctive solar energy tariff. We have ready-made manufacture plans to be announced after the tariff announcement.
Onera aims to produce high-quality solar cells of 600 MW annually in the factory, such as those being imported from Germany and America, and their prices will be the same as the imported ones.
Both banks and self-financing will provide investments for the project, and periodic studies will be done to develop the industry.
Does Onera have overseas projects?
The company has recently finished a number of projects establishing solar stations for mobile networks in Morocco worth EGP 25m.
About 100 mobile network stations were established for Nigerian telecommunication companies.
Onera has finished a project with the Jordanian Ministry of Defence with investments of EGP 3m at the end of last year.
What is the estimated energy of the projects undertaken by Onera Systems annually?
We carry out annual projects of 4 to 5 MW, and we import all systems from Germany and America with high quality and sufficiency.
What is the company’s role in the Cabinet initiative regarding the establishment of solar power plants for government buildings?
Four solar plants are being established for government institutions to shift to solar power.
Supplying, installing and operating four photovoltaic solar stations on top of electricity distribution buildings is finished in northern Cairo, with a capacity of 160kW per hour.
The North of Cairo Electricity Distribution Company has announced a tender for the supply, installation and operating of another four photovoltaic solar power stations.
That came as part of the government’s and Cabinet’s initiative to establish 1,000 solar power plants on top of government buildings, which saves about 5,000GW annually. Onera Systems provided the best technical and financial offers and executed the plans 60 days earlier than the specified date in the contract.
Solar power stations generate 280 MW hours annually, save 158 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and 2.2Mcf [thousand cubic feet] of natural gas per year.
Within 25 years, the four stations will save 55Mcf of natural gas and 3,950 tons of carbon dioxide as well as generate 7,000MW hour.
Bidirectional energy counters will be installed in the buildings’ ground floor to calculate the electric energy generated from solar power pumped across the network if extra generating capacities existed.
The stations were established under the supervision of the company using high quality products. Onera Systems has qualified technical and engineering staffs to undertake large projects, providing an opportunity to implement the contract’s terms before the set date.
The stations will help save the buildings’ total loads, and the energy consumption cost is EGP 0.25 per kWh.
The costs of the projects in the four stations were around EGP 2m. The project should save its investment costs within six years and the stations should continue production for 25 years without any costs and with extra power generated across the network.
Did Onera provide offers to the Ministry of Electricity to establish the solar power stations?
The company did provide offers to set up a number of solar power stations with capacities ranging from 10 to 20MW after the government’s tariff announcement. Establishing a 10-20 MW station takes 6-8 months.
What is the truth behind the frequent outages currently?
President Al-Sisi’s speech confirmed that Egypt has an electricity crisis that won’t be solved soon. The president announced that a 1,000 MW electricity station needs $1bn investments and fuel worth $700m annually.
Calculating those numbers announced by Al-Sisi, the kW would cost EGP 1.25 minus alternative investment opportunity costs.
The government should have admitted the existence of a problem some time ago to begin resolving it. And the best solution is new and renewable energies.
How do you find the president’s decision of allocating lands for NREA [New and Renewable Energy Authority] to set up stations?
The decision is an indicator of the government’s bafflement with investors and working with the old system by tendering without using a tariff that forces the government to buy productive energies from those projects.
If the government announced buying productive energies from new and renewable energy projects, investors will have to provide an offer in their projects regarding productive energy and the location of the project, then the government has to compare between them.
What are the demands of new and renewable energy companies to start working on stations?
The demands include issuing a distinctive energy tariff and its labour law, and according to my information, the tariff won’t fit our expectations because the law won’t allow firms and individuals to establish stations and sell production to the state.
It will only give investors the right to set up stations and sell for EGP 1.1 and find their own buyers as the state isn’t committed to buying the production.
This indicates that the government discourages new and renewable energy investors from being the productive energy buyer, and it’s better if we have clear legislation and incentives for different sectors.
That’s in addition to laws that allow not only investors, but also individuals and firms, to set up new and renewable energy stations and have their production bought by the state.
The state needs to devise a long-term plan for its new and renewable energy needs, and prevent unnecessary projects.
How much time does establishing a 1,000MW solar power station take?
It takes three years if implemented as one project, for licensing, approvals and red tape procedures. However, if 1,000 MW were produced by individuals by setting up several small stations on top of houses, it takes a year and a half.
With the tariff announcement, small projects won’t need financial guarantees, while bigger projects will need them considering their greater investments.
What is the energy mix in solar cells projects?
In other states, the energy mix is 70% for small production stations and 30% for bigger ones because it’s safer for the state’s energy providence.
Are there technical specifications by the state for new and renewable energy stations?
No quality and efficiency standard specification were announced by the government to avoid the entrance of poor quality and efficiency stations, affecting the network negatively.
The Ministry of Electricity and NREAmust apply specifications and conditions for companies working in new and renewable energy industry so non-specialised companies won’t enter the field.
What is the governmental investment role in activating new and renewable energy in Egypt?
The government needs to invest during the coming period in electricity transmission lines, and establish organisations to manage the network automatically – not manually, as is the case currently, which has led to disasters.
How much is the tariffsolar power that companies are demanding?
We demand the kW solar energy to cost EGP 1.10, which achieves an economic feasibility for investors.
Will the private sector sell energy to the consumer directly if prices were liberated according to governmental plans in the year 2019?
The Electricity Act does not allow new and renewable energy investors to sell their production directly to the consumer. The government won’t amend the law in the case of energy prices liberation in 2019, to prevent the private sector from competing with it in the market.
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