Egypt renewables ecologies

REAP/SP-M-304-100

Economics and Planning of Technical Urban Infrastructure Systems (EPTUIS) Homework Nr. 3: Egypt renewables Network Mohamed Ashraf Fahmi Elgohary Mohamed 6071663 mohamed.mohamed@hcu-hamburg.de Mohamed Ashraf Fahmi Elgohary Mohamed

30.04.2021

List of acronyms.

List of acronyms.

ARE: Arab Republic of Egypt.

EEA: Egypt Electricity Authority.

EE:

Energy Efficiency.

Km: Kilo meter(s). mWts: Megawatts.

MoEE: Ministry of Electricity and Energy.

NREA: New & Renewable Energy Authority. m/s: Meter(s) per second. kWts: Kilo watts.

SCE: Supreme council of Energy.

UN: United nations.

Wts: Watts.

Table of conents List of acronyms.

Energy in Egypt.

The Energy Challenges.

Renewables in Egypt Renewable’s strategies: Renewable’s stakeholders: Renewable projects, Mega projects: Renewables Ecologies Egypt: Resilient Energy: Conclusions and reflections about Egypt’s renewables networks.

References.

List of pictures

2 3 3 4 6 6 6 7 7 8 9 10

Picture 1:Total primary energy supply in 2014/15. (IRENA, 2018) 3 Picture 3:Egypt’s Solar Atlas.

4 Picture 2:Black outs 2014 in Cairo (Adel El Mahrouky) 4 Picture 4:Benban Solar Park (Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA) 5 Picture 5:Aswan High Dam (Shutterstock.com) 5 Picture 6:Historical Fuel prices in Egypt.

6 Picture 7:Egypt’s renewables network. (Researcher based on Younsi).

7 Picture 8:Evolution of installed renewable energy power capcity in GW 7

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Mohamed Ashraf Fahmi Elgohary Mohamed Egypt’s renewables network.

Energy in Egypt.

Energy in Egypt.

Egypt overall population raises one Million every 6 months (Al-Tawy 2014) (worldbank.org 2020) and that rocketing increase of population trigger a higher demand on different means of infrastructures, which makes it challenging for the government to cope with the upsurge demand on electricity and energy.

The ARE. energy sector classified as “high power system size” (24,700) MW, while the income classified as “low-middle category” as annual income is $2,000 per capita (Besant-Jones 2013:161), However, 32.5% of the total population lived below the national poverty line (Keyes and Aitken 1977:1), with an even higher rate of 60% recorded in Upper Egypt (International Renewable Energy Agency 2018:1).

The Energy sector in Egypt recognized in 1893, where generating electricity was exclusive to private companies, after 1962, the private ownership of companies went through the nationalization process, where the government became the one and only owner and operator to energy sector in the country.

Egyptian Electricity Authority (EEA) was created to rule and control the Energy. (Besant-Jones 2013:161).

The company kept on growing and to have a daughter company which complementing with the regional sprawl of the country itself.

Egypt’s Energy sector is mainly based on fossil fuels resources, the supply-demand is has consists of 50% based on Oil and Oil products, and 45% are coming from Natural Gas, when coal is only 1%, while all renewables like Solar and wind, Biofuel and waster, Hydropower, are all combined forums less than 5% (International Renewable Energy Agency 2018:9).

Solar and wind 1.00% Hydropower 2.00% Biofuels and waste 2.00% Solar and wind 1.00% Natural gas 45.00% Oil and oil products 50.00%

To Encounter this upsurge demand for electricity, the Egyptian government started to approach renewables to its lont time strategy. olar photovoltaic and wind energy were preferred. Biogas, solar water heaters, nor biomass Picture 1:Total primary energy supply in 2014/15. was approached in the different versions of ARE (Researcher based on IRENA, 2018) authorities’ strategies.

The Energy Challenges.

In 2014, the demand for electricity reached Its peak, a shortage of 20% of the total capacity of the EEA network were recorded (Kingsley 2014), many blackouts occurred in the summer of 2014, the reasons behind it varies between high demand for cooling due to exceptional summer’s heatwaves due to global climate change while the government claimed that the shortage of energy is due to territorial attacks on the infrastructure. (Kingsley 2014).

The new urban sprawl requires 7% to 10% total growth in the energy capacity of the network, which is estimated by 2 gWt., however, the government energy sprawl considers the growth of renew-

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Mohamed Ashraf Fahmi Elgohary Mohamed Egypt’s renewables network.

Renewables in Egypt

able will contribute to only 2% of the new demand(Probst et al. 2016:33)

The blackouts affected the mobility in the Egyptian capital as well, the Metro went out of service, and the streets jammed with vehicles (DW 2014), the frustration was combined with outrage as the government promised to rely on coal to solve the problem of blackouts. (Skynewsarabia 2014).

On the other hand, Egypt is facing a radical conflict with Ethiopia on the water share, this con- Picture 2:Black outs 2014 in Cairo (Adel El Mahrouky) flict will affect the hydro energy sector in Egypt, especially for Aswan High Dam, as Ethiopia investing in the Dam to generate a 16,000 GWh/y. (Wendover Productions 2020) which will affect Egypt’s share of Water and hydropower.

In short, Urban sprawl, Population upsurge, high demand for electricity and scare of resources and outlines the crisis of the Egyptian Energy problems, However, renewables seem to have good oppurtunity to complement with the new demands, but it has it unique challanges.

Renewables in Egypt Egypt is currently adapting a new expansion in renewables to cut down the green grass effect, the

strategy of 2030 is set to meet the UN goal for Urban Development number 7: Ensure access to afford)able, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. (Egypt Ministry of Environment 2017:41

Picture 3:Egypt’s Solar Atlas.

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Mohamed Ashraf Fahmi Elgohary Mohamed Egypt’s renewables network.

Renewables in Egypt

To Optimize renewables’ location in Egypt, Solar and wind ATLAS was launched, the aim of the ATLAS is to locate the best position of renewables in corresponding to the regional demands.

Wind Energy:

Egypt has a wind speed bounds between 2 to 12 m/s, and the wind speed is stable (Younes 2016:2), which encourage the government to enlarge its investment (International Renewable Energy Agency 2018:41) (Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy 2021) , the speed. Most of the wind Energy investments located nearby the Suez Gulf and Ras Ghareb, Ras Ghareb wind farm is one of the biggest projects that the government launched in 2017 with a generation capacity of 250 mWts in the Gulf of Suez zone. (RGWE 2017).

However, the potential for investing in wind energy is short-termed, as the 30 mWts windfarms at Zafar’ana went out of service in the year 2021 after 20 years of working span. Despite the scheduled closure, the government plans to have 16% of its total generated energy from wind energy. (Magoum 2020).

Solar Energy: Egypt has an 3451 annual daylight hours is per year and 10 hours per day. (Climatemps 2014), the climate is classified as “hot desert climate”, sun radiation bounds between 2000-3200 kWh/m2/yr.

For the remote urban settlements which are extremely far from the main Energy network, PV panels turn to be the main power supply. Despite the availability of enough daylight hours, and the availability of vacant spaces (desert) but the government plans to extend the solar power by only 2% of its 2020 strategy, by giving more room to wind (Probst et al. 2016:36).

Recently, a combined Renewable Energy Master Plan for Egypt financed by the EU has been issued. The mandate of this Master Plan is to develop a framework for renewable energy, wind and solar in specific, Egypt for two future scenarios; 2025 and 2050, to make the renwables share reaches 20% of total genrated electricty, in addition to investigating the local capacities to manufacture solar equipment. (Probst Picture 4:Benban Solar Park (Copernicus et al. 2016:37) In 2019, President Abdelfatah Alsisi opened Benban Solar park, the park is located on a 37.2 km2 in Upper Egypt near Aswan, the solar park aims to provide the main electricity grid with 1,650 mW annually via 41 solar planets. (New & Renewable Energy Authority Egypt 2016) Hydropower Energy:

Sentinel-2, ESA)

The river Nile is the main source of drinkable water in Egypt, Several dams were built on the river to secure hydropower electricty. Aswan High Dam is the largest, the construction started in the 1950s and accomplished in 1976, (Studies Picture 5:Aswan High Dam (Shutterstock.

Weekly 2015), at this time the Dam used to represent 50% com)

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Mohamed Ashraf Fahmi Elgohary Mohamed Egypt’s renewables network.

Renewable’s strategies:

of Egypt’s total electricity between 1960s and 1970s (International Renewable Energy Agency 2018:22) the Dam contained 12 Turbines generates annually 10,041 mWt (CARMA 2015), the Dam leaves behind it man-made lake, which covers 5,250 km2 and a 132 km3 of water. (Muala et al. 2014).

Recently Egypt had a clash with Ethiopia about the share of Nile’s water, as Ethiopia claims to build a Dam to generate hydropower from the river Nile, which will affect Egypt’s share of water, agriculture, and electricity generation from its Dams (Mutahi 2020) Renewable’s strategies:

The energy sector primarily relies on non-renewable resources, which has a dangerous impact on the environment, and the prices are fluctuating and rising rapidly, for instance, the Gasoline 95 price increased 3.5 times between September 2004 and July 2015.(The Fuel Price 2015) . so, the government wanted to approach more room for renewables and increase its share to reach 20% by the year 2020.(Younes 2016:2)

The EU funds Egypt’s strategy to Picture 6:Historical Fuel prices in Egypt. reach up to 40% of its energy from renewables by the year 2035, the government started already Mega projects related to renewable energy system in Aswan and Suez gulf.

Renewable’s stakeholders:

The Energy sector in Egypt moderated by SCE (Supreme council of Energy) which is directed by the president of Egypt, under the SCE in 1970 MoEE ( Ministry of Electricity and Energy) were reformed, 16 years later the renewable energy was approached within NREA (New & Renewable Energy Authority) (NREA 2021), under this NREA many companies and non-government bodies are working to feed the Energy grid, but the government remained the main moderator of the network.

The government gives room for investors to work within the official strategy, projects could be done via Competitive Bidding, Feed-in Tariff, and Producers Power Independently Where Independent Power Producers (IPP), or Merchant scheme, developers can either consume the generated electricity to feed their loads or/and sell it directly to their consumers. (Probst et al. 2016:37). However, public investments are not enough to meet the ambitious extension of renewables, as the government doesn’t allow third-party interference in the case of conflicts and disputes (Younes 2016:1).

Renewable projects, Mega projects:

The energy sector in the ARE is mostly controlled by the government, as the government is the only operator of the energy sectors, and the invests.

Project

year

Type

Aswan high Dam

19601976

Hydro 2,100 m Wts

US$ 720 million

Benban Solar farm

20182019

Solar

1,650 m Wts

US$4 billion

Vensas wind farm

2017-Now Wind

252 m Wts(Reve 2020)

US$ 276,63 million

6

Generated capacity

Mohamed Ashraf Fahmi Elgohary Mohamed Egypt’s renewables network.

Coast

Renewables Ecologies Egypt:

As the table shows, the Egyptian renewable energy deployment model is heavily based on large scale projects, the polarity of investment enables renewables to expand in a monumental hoop, smaller projects started to be approached, but the main strategy did not change since Aswan high Dam established in 1976.

Renewables Ecologies Egypt:

The Network of renewables in Egypt is found where the most EE (Energy efficiency) found, for wind farms it is nearby Suez Gulf (where the wind is over 10m/s), and for Solar power found in arid desert areas (where more operating hours per year).

Due to sands and elevated temperature, renewables efficiency drops, and the need for maintenance became upsurge, then qualified human resources are needed in such remote’s areas, which make the process of generating clean and cheap electricity more expensive than it should be.

West Nile West Nile 3636 23350

Al Kurimat

606 km² 17400 MW

10

20

South Sinai7

km² MW Farafra

0.5

Zaafarana 545

200 200

5 Abu Minqar

Hurghada

250

100

East Nile 841 5800

5

20

km² MW

600

Marsa Alam

Aswan

The electricity demand is centralized in Cairo (10.5 Million inhabitant) and Alexandria (5.4 Million inhabitants) (Central Agency for Public mobilization and statistics. 2019). Cairo and Alexandria are 150, and 400 km away from Suez Gulf (main wind energy supplier) and 880 km, and 1000 km away from Aswan (where most solar power generation).

Gulf of Suez 12200 km² 3550 MW

East Nile 1290 km² 34900 MW

Siwa Oasis

44 km² 2060 MW

250

600

Kom Ombo Darb Al Arbaein

Jabal Al Zayt 2 220 Jabal Al Zayt 3

200 0.5 Banban

20

Aswan High Dam

1800

Jabal Al Zayt 1

545

6

120

Shalateen

5

Abu Ramad

2

Halayeb

1 existing governmental projects ongoing governmental projects projects build, own and operate (BOO) mechanism FIT mechanism

Existing governmental projects Ongoing governmental projects projects Build, own and operate (BOO) mechanism IPP mechanism

Solar thermal collectors Photovoltaic cells

The ecologies of renewables are Picture 7:Egypt’s renewables network. (Researcher based on not located nearby the demand for re- Younsi). sources, the reasons behind this may be economical, as vacant lands in the suburbs of the two cities still expensive to afford in such projects, the other parameter is environmental, where PV parks and solar farms are located where its more efficient, but it turns to be very far away from the demand, and accordingly from the labors which is required to maintain the network and increase its capacity from a time to another.

Resilient Energy:

The major part of generating renewables in Egypt is wind energy, the investments are rocking in the wind farms comparing to the solar power and hydropower, the solar and hydropower demonstrate small progress comparing to the wind, the reason behind this is the wind power gives more electricity stability, and investment has a fixed return, while in solar power, the generated energy is not as much as the power generated from the wind turbines. And Picture 8:Evolution of installed renewable energy additionally, it costs more. power capcity in GW

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Mohamed Ashraf Fahmi Elgohary Mohamed Egypt’s renewables network.

Conclusions and reflections about Egypt’s renewables networks

Energy ecology in Egypt is formulated by the government fund and found where it could generate a lot of Energy, the local participation is quite limited. Renewables network lacks diversification, stakeholders and funding. As no one source of energy is capable to secure enough to supplement the dynamic demand for electricity, climate change normally brings different environmental conditions that affect the renewables network, the imbalanced investments will unstable the generated electricity in the long term.

(Li 2005:3).

Conclusions and reflections about Egypt’s renewables networks.

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The government sets the energy strategy without considering or counting on the local community on the energy sector overall and renewables especially, megaprojects are being brought be huge funds and seprated from citizens.

The resources of renewables are not enough diversified, the major investments are for wind energy, which may be risky if the wind velocity on the Suez gulf slowed.

The Projects which are carried, are very away from places of consumption and very far from the skilled labourers as well, which increases the cost of operating this power by maintenance and mobilize the energy.

As people should have their right to the city, they also need to activate its right to generate and sell their own renewable, based on limited places/rooftops where PV panels could be placed and connected to the local grid with no need for batteries, however, there is no legal framework exsists to enable buttom up appraches.

In parrel, Egypt aims to build a Nuclear power reactor by the year 2024 In Eldab’a, the nuclear reactor should generate a total of 4800 mWts (Shay 2015:2) which diminish the share of renewables in Egypt’s, harm the environment, and ruin the competetion between the renewables and non-renewables.

The lack of trustful and fair agreement between government and investors unutilized the investments in renewables.

Economically, the government set a 5-year plan to remove the subsidy on the fossile fuel to bring it to the real coast, with the absence of renewables subsidence, transportation and the cost of living overall become more not affordable, in append, the consumption of non-renewables still the same (Ismail and Lewis 2019) Public awareness regarding clean electricity generation is in the absence, except in media when the 2014 blackouts started to occur, activist and public awareness are the main drivers to correct government decisions, clean energy and renewables hardly grows in the absence of democracy and public participation.

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Mohamed Ashraf Fahmi Elgohary Mohamed Egypt’s renewables network.

References.

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Mohamed Ashraf Fahmi Elgohary Mohamed Egypt’s renewables network.

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Mohamed Ashraf Fahmi Elgohary Mohamed Egypt’s renewables network.