1. Implementation of Solar Power in Egypt
The obstacles facing solar power in Egypt
Menna Ayman,Mechanical Engineering,Prof. Denise Waszkowski
Research Question
-Why isn’t solar power implemented in Egypt?
-Does the lack of the youth’s awareness contribute to the problem?
Thesis
The Dilemma: How could a“HOT SPOT”on the world’s energy map face an
energy crisis?
The energy crisis in Egypt had come to public attention post the January
25 Revolution. Despite the fact that Egypt has one of the greatest solar
potentials worldwide and it was one of the first countries to utilize solar
power since 1912, the Egyptian government decided to introduce coal as
another resource instead of implementing solar power. This means that
there are obstacles facing the utilization of solar power in Egypt. This re-
search is conducted to sort out these limitations in order to be able to
overcome them and make use of the country’s great potential that is
being wasted. The research aimed to find out if the lack of awareness of
the Egyptian youth and the governmental negligence to the issue count-
ed out as limitations for the solar utilization in Egypt.
What triggered the research?
On approach to sorting the possible limitations for the implementation of
solar power in Egypt, the following was done:
-A review of the literature to sort out the technical problems facing solar
power generally.
-A survey among college students aging from 19-22 from different majors
to test their awareness about solar power and the energy crisis in Egypt
and whether education has a direct relation with the awareness about the
issue or not.
-A 15-minute interview with the sustainability director Prof./Marc Rauch at
AUC to evaluate the situation in Egypt specifically.
Methodology
-Solar power is facing technical problems in Egypt.
-High utilization cost.
-Egyptian youth are not aware of the issue.
-Science students will in fact be more aware than non-science students.
-Technical problems are not the real limitation, they could be solved.
-High running cost because the Egyptian government subsidizes electricity which
makes it hard for solar to compete.
-To a great extent, Egyptian youth are aware of the issue.
-Science students are more aware of the issue.
Excerpts from the literature review
EGYPT:“The Hot Spot”
“The potential of solar
energy in Egypt is virtually
unlimited.”(1)
Paul van Son, CEO of Desert-
ec Industrial Initiative (Dii)
-High levels of solar radia-
tion: average of 237 W/m2
and 2,000 to 3,200kWh per
square meter annually.
-Sunshine duration of 9 to 11
hours per day; few cloudy
days.
-More than 330 sunny days
per year. (1)
“According to the U.S. Department of Energy,
enough energy from the sun hits Earth every
hour to power the planet for an entire year
(Smith, 2014).”(2)
Analysis
The majority of the students (34%) supposed that the
high initial cost needed for implementing solar power
plants is the main reason solar power is not used in
Egypt. This was a major reason according to National
Geographic, Bob Parkins, the renewable energy con-
sultant and Florida Solar Energy center, Global Energy
Network Institute as mentioned by Prof. Marc Rauch in
his presentation.“There are reasons why solar power
cannot be used as the only power source in a commu-
nity. It can be expensive to install PV cells… (National
Geographic Encyclopedia)(3)”.On the other hand, prof.
Rauch had another thought, explaining that the solar
cells would not be expensive if they were manufac-
tured in Egypt. Presently, they are expensive because
we import them. Another suggestion by 23% of the
students was that the Egyptian government neglects
the issue and takes no steps forward. This was con-
firmed by my interview with Dr.Marc Rauch, the sus-
tainability director at AUC, (2014) to be the main
reason since the Egyptian government subsidizes
electricity making it hard for solar power to compete.
-Rauch, M., & Abdelrahman, E. (n.d.). Solar energy in Egypt: opportunities
and challenges. (1)
-Rand, T. (2010). Solar. In Kick the fossil fuel habit: 10 clean technologies to
save our world. Greenleaf Book Group.(2)
-Renewable energy. (n.d.). In National Geographic. Retrieved February 24,
2014, from http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclope-
dia/renewable-energy/?ar_a=1(3)
In light of my research project, I think that unless the Egyptian government steps
into the scene and supports the use of solar power, we will not be able to utilize it in
Egypt. The government must give attention to the country’s potential and make use
of it. Instead of wasting money to import coal, this money can be invested in imple-
menting solar plants and encouraging the citizens to use solar using incentives and
tax reductions. The government must support the use of solar energy by stopping
the electricity subsidies and by raising the awareness about it. The topic must be in-
troduced to educational experts to start involving it in school and university curricu-
lums to be able to have experts in the field and start manufacturing the PV cells lo-
cally to reduce the costs.
High cost
34%
Lack of
awarness
23%
Government's
neglectance
23%
Technical
problems and
lack of experts
10%
Unstable
political
conditions
10%
Why do you think solar energy
is not implemented in Egypt?
Conclusion and Further Studies Citation
Expectations Results
www.aucegypt.edu/research/undergraduate