The first solar power plant with a capacity of 10 megawatts will be inaugurated on today in the Siwa Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt.

The capacity of the plant was designed to cover all needs of the residents of the oasis, which has long relied on diesel units for illumination purposes with weak access another other power grids.

The solar plant is one of the aid projects granted by the United Arab Emirates in the field of solar energy in Egypt.

The Emirati grant aims to provide electricity to 243 villages and cities; the first phase targets 211 power- deprived villages in Qena, Luxor and Wadi el-Gadid governorates.

The inauguration  will be attended by the Ministry of Electricity Mohamed Shaker, Matrouh Governor Alaa Abu Zaid and the Emirati minister of state Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi spoke about the availability of energy and managing the demand as one of Egypt’s development agenda, during the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. He also said that there are plans by the government to generate 20 percent of Egypt’s energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Furthermore, he noted that Egypt aims to build power plants that generate 4,300 megawatts from solar and wind energy within the next three years.

Last September, the government announced the “feed-in” tariff for electricity generated by renewable energy sources. It also announced that governmental buildings and the streets will start be powered by solar energy.

The government aims to provide a diversity of sources of energy in order to face fuel shortages required to operate electricity stations. Frequent power cuts have plagued the country in summer months, resulting in rolling blackouts in many city centers daily.

Source: The Cairo Post