Egypt's solar-powered airports and private windmills

This month, France granted Egypt over 430,000 Euro for the latter to start a study on applying solar energy in the country’s different airports, namely Sharm ElSheikh, Assiut, Abu Simbel and Taba. According to the newsletter of the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the study should aim at developing modules with a capacity of 20MW per airport and will be prospectively concluded in six months.

The other source of energy Egypt is working on is wind energy. The New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) is planning to sell a total of 7,622 square kilometers of land to private investors – in form of tenders – which should use it to develop and create wind energy projects according to the BOT-model (Build Operate Transfer). These pieces of land are mainly located at the Suez Canal, and on both Nile-banks. The generated energy should then be sold to private businesses – without state-guarantee.

Private companies can also buy the land at a lower price, and will be allowed to use it for 20 – 25 years. Also, the equipment needed can be imported and will not be subjected to taxes or customs.

The outline of it all seems very promising, yet, there is no way in telling how serious these attempts are until tangible results are produced.