Egypt’s total electricity production from solar energy projects reached 1,900MW over the last five years, Managing Director of Cairo Solar Company, Hatem Tawfik, said on Monday.
The country’s solar energy production was equivalent to the power generated from the Aswan’s High Dam in that period, he added.
Tawfik explained that the total capacity of the solar stations that were implemented for the benefit of the household sector was about 2MW.
The household sector includes villas, compounds, and tourist resorts, he added, noting that the return on investment in the energy projects for these areas ranges between 20-25%.
Several solar projects were implemented to run groundwater wells with a total capacity of 50-100MW, explaining that the return on investment in this type of power plants ranges between 30-45%, he said.
Moreover, the medium-sized solar projects that were implemented to serve factories, commercial projects, and hotel produce about 30MW, with a return on investment ranging between 20-30% annually.
Noteworthy, Egypt has completed one of the largest solar parks in the world in Benban, Aswan, with a total capacity of 1,465MW, with a return on investment of 10-15%.
Solar energy projects in Egypt were implemented under different systems, such as BOO, IPP, and EPC.
Tawfik noted that the EPC system is the best option for customers since they could own the project for 25 years and receive the energy for free.
As for the IPP system, a customer will pay the full energy cost at a rate less than 10% of the government energy price, but he will not own the station.
Egypt has a great potential to be one of the largest renewable energy producers due to several factors; high solar irradiance, vast areas of desert, attractiveness of the Egyptian market, and others, which serves the state’s transformation plan into a regional centre for energy, Tawfik concluded.
