Solar Energy To Light Up Egyptian Villages

Utility scale solar power for Egyptian villages

It only makes sense that remote villages – difficult to reach and off-grid – should rely on renewable resources like solar power to provide light, heat and other modern conveniences.  For the first time ever, solar energy will light up two Egyptian villages.

The Egyptian government has adopted solar energy initiatives to encourage more solar energy usage.  The Egyptian villages of Umm al-Saghir and Ain Zahra will be among the half million people that will receive clean electricity from the country’s first thermal solar power plant.  The 140 MW utility scale solar power plant is located in Kuraymat and will start generating solar electricity in February 2011.

According to Solar Paces:

The Kuraymat project site is nearly 90 km south of Cairo and was selected due to its uninhabited, flat desert location, high-intensity direct solar radiation (2400 kWh/m2/year), and its proximity to an extensive unified power grid, expanded natural gas pipelines, and sources of water (the River Nile).

With solar energy to light up Egyptian villages, its about time the quality solar resource is used to power the lives of so many people.

Tags: solar electricity, solar energy, solar power, solar power plant, solar thermal, thermal solar power