Clear skies, sunlight and space - that's enough in the Western Desert of Egypt. Perfect conditions to win solar power. With the help of photovoltaic companies from different countries, the Northeast African state has been building one of the largest solar plants in the world for several years.
In the province of Aswan, about 650 kilometers south of Cairo, the approximately 3.6 billion Euro solar park Benban is being built on desert sand. The earth observation satellite "Landsat 8" of NASA has documented the construction from space.
In June 2018, the first part of the installation can already be seen on the pictures. He went online in February of the same year and was built by the Berlin company IB Vogt. Meanwhile, the solar park is 80 percent, as a picture of the same region from October 2019 shows (see slider below).
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When the plant is ready, a good seven million photovoltaic panels will cover an area of 37 square kilometers. The solar park will be the first in Egypt to provide the country with commercial electricity from sunlight. An output of up to 1800 megawatts is planned, reports NASA.
Accepted for 25 years
By comparison, the world's largest solar plant, the Longyangxia Dam Solar Park in China, has an output of 850 megawatts. However, a new project by the Chinese could surpass the value of the Benban solar park in the near future. In Germany, the utility company EnBW is planning a solar park with 175 megawatts - it would be the largest such plant in this country.
The Egyptian project involves 30 private companies. They install solar panels on a total of 41 different sized units. The financing is provided by financial institutions from all over the world, including the Bayerische Landesbank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the World Bank.
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Satellite image of the week: snapshots from spaceThe Egyptian grid operator EETC has contractually agreed to take away solar power from investors for the next 25 years. The construction of roads and the connection of the plant to the power grid are handled by a state-owned company.
Target until 2035 42 percent electricity from sustainable energy
The Benban solar park will help Egypt become less dependent on fossil fuels. At the beginning of 2018, the country gained 90 percent of its electricity from oil and natural gas. By 2020, 20 percent of the electricity should come from renewable resources, and by 2035 the state will aim for a quota of 42 percent. Hydropower also plays a role here.
However, Egypt's investment in renewable energy is not a pure sustainability project. The country has problems to meet its electricity needs. The solar park should help to eliminate the scarcity. Five years ago, electricity demand peaked at 28,000 megawatts, but only 24,000 megawatts were available. There were often power outages.
In the coming years, the situation could worsen if the state does not counteract. According to Uno forecasts, the number of people in Egypt will double by 2075 at a moderate birth rate (see chart). At least to the same extent, electricity production will have to grow by then.
However, installing solar systems in the desert poses some challenges. The extremely high temperatures can damage the inverters. The components convert the direct current produced by the photovoltaic systems into alternating current, which is required for feeding it into the grid.
In addition, sand and dust blown to the panels in windy conditions can reduce performance. Special machines are needed to rid the surfaces of deposits several times a month.