WORLD’S LARGEST SOLAR PARK TO BE UNVEILED IN EGYPT

Egypt to unveil world’s largest solar park/farm this year.

By mid this year 2019, Egypt expects to unveil its Benban solar park; which covers a 37.2 km² (14.4 sq mi) area and will produce more than 4TWh of power once fully operational. The park consists of 41 power plants/stations and about six(6) million solar panels. When completed, the Benban park will be the world’s largest solar park or farm.

It is worthy to note that the world’s first solar thermal power station; was built on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt in 1913 by Philadelphia inventor Frank Shuman. Shuman’s power station harnessed the abundant Egyptian sun to pump 6,000 gallons of water a minute; from the Nile to irrigate a nearby cotton field.

Asides sunlight, Egypt also have other natural elements for generating abundance of energy which are wind and water. But the discovery of oil and other cheap fuel sources might have derailed Egypt from utilizing these resources to provide stable electricity for its growing populace. This is even despite having the largest oil refinery in Africa.

But the US$4 billion Benban solar park situated near Aswan in southern Egypt will definitely transform Egypt into a major solar energy player in the world.

The Egyptian government spends more on electricity subsidies than it spends on education, health care, and social welfare all combined. The world’s largest solar park asides lightning up the country will also help to avoid 2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year. Thereby helping the nation achieve its Sustainable Energy Strategy (SES) 2035. The Egyptian government’s SES 2035 aims to produce 20% of electricity from renewable sources by 2022 and 42% by 2025.

Financing the Benban Solar park

The Benban Solar park which will provide 4,000 jobs; received its major funding of US$653m from a consortium led by the International Financial Corporation (IFC). The consortium includes Africa Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Arab Bank of Bahrain; CDC of the United Kingdom, Europe Arab Bank, Green for Growth Fund, FinnFund, ICBC, and OeEB of Austria.

Also the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and another consortium led by International Development Finance (IDF) together financed the project with US$500m and US$335m respectively.

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