Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

Egypt is currently suffering the symptoms of the energy crises, such as electricity outage and high deficit as a result of constant increase in fossil foils through the last decades. On the other hand, Egypt has a high solar availability of more than 18.5 MJ annually. Additionally, Egypt has large uninhabited deserts on both sides of the Nile valley and in Sinai Peninsula, which represent more than 96.5% of the nation’s total land area. Therefore, solar energy is one of the prospective solutions for energy shortage in Egypt. Furthermore, these vast lands are advantageous for commissioning huge solar power generation projects, not only in terms of space availability, but also of availability of high quality silicon (sand) necessary for manufacturing silicon wafers used in photovoltaic (PV) modules. More importantly, Rural Egypt offer market gaps for investors, due to low local competition, and as remote areas that are not connected to the national power grid. Nevertheless, there are some obstacles that hinder the progress of solar energy in Egypt, for instance, the lack of local manufacturing capabilities and insufficient local R&D funding, which results in importing most of the solar system components. Furthermore, security and turbulent market represent another challenge among many.

This paper exhibits the experience of the authors designing and installing a small-sized solar energy solution, about 20 kW, installed at two rural villages in Fayoum City, Egypt as well as the conceptual design of a utility scale (2 MW) power planet planned to be installed in Kuraymat, Egypt both using PV technology. The outcomes of this experience assert that solar PV systems show a technical and economic feasible solution for the energy problem in rural villages.

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