The Ministry of Electricity seeks the approval of the Ministry of Irrigation to establish small hydroelectric stations in Al-Qanatir al-Khayreyah and Delta.
Several studies were conducted on some areas in the Delta to ensure the possibility of implementing small hydroelectric plants with different capacities ranging between 2 to 5MW, and seven sites were found eligible, a source from the Ministry of Electricity told Daily News Egypt.
The German Development Bank (KfW) allocated €30m to finance the construction of small hydroelectric plants in Egypt, and a German company conducted a study in coordination with the Hydro Power Plant Executive Authority (HPPEA) to discuss ways to implement these projects.
The source added that the Ministry of Irrigation objected the idea, but there are still discussions on this matter, which are expected to be settled in the first half of this year.
The HPPEA has started the operation of the Assiut hydroelectric station at full capacity of 32MW, to be the largest power station on the Nile in Egypt. The station consists of four units of 8MW each and is expected to save fuel worth EGP 100m annually.
The source explained that hydroelectric stations achieve high operational efficiency compared to other traditional and renewable energy plants.
The average annual energy produced from existing water stations in Egypt is currently about 13bn kw/h, which saves fuel equivalent to 3m tonnes of oil annually, in addition to its contribution to reducing the emission by 7.2m tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The source said that the HPPEA has received offers from investors to cover small canals with solar panels to benefit of these areas in the production of electricity, and these offers are being studied.
