Egypt receives some of the highest annual solar radiation in the world, yet the desert country remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels. "There is a lot of unachieved potential here," says Amr Mohsen, chairman and CEO of Lotus Solar Technologies, an Egyptian firm specialising in solar applications. "The sun is not only strong, but you have everything you need to produce the cheapest kilowatt hour in the region."
Egypt lies in the North African sun belt with flat desert topography and perennially clear skies favourable to commercial solar technologies. Annual solar concentration averages 2,300 KWh per square metre, about 130 percent higher than Germany; yet per capita use of solar technologies is less than 10 percent of Germany's. Instead, the country relies on dwindling oil and gas reserves to generate over 85 percent of its energy requirements. A national strategy to utilise 20 percent renewable energy by 2020 anticipates a share of just two percent for solar energy, the remainder allocated to hydro and wind energy.
While photovoltaic (PV) solar panels are used to power some low-energy applications such as telecom relay towers and highway billboards, consumer initiatives to encourage the use of solar water heating have failed to generate widespread support. "The total area of domestic solar water heaters in Egypt is 400,000 to 500,000 square metres for a population of 80 million - and half (the units) don't work," says Mohsen. "In Israel, by comparison, the area is six million square metres for six million people."
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