Egypt's first solar power plant built by Arab Organisation for Industrialisation

The Arab Organization for Industrialization built Egypt's first thermal power plant in 2010, using photovoltaics, said an organization official on Sunday.

The 600 kilowatt plant, located on Egypt-Suez desert road, was linked to the national power grid in November of 2010, said Samir Darwish, executive director of the Arab Company for Renewable Energy, which is affiliated with the organization.

Drawish gave the remarks on the sidelines of opening a production line by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab.

He unveiled plans to increase the capacity of the first solar power plant and set up a new one at a capacity of 400 kilowatt.

He added that the organization also set up two solar power units at the Electricity Ministry at a capacity of 80- kilowatt and is now installing solar power units in many other ministries and governmental bodies.

As for the wind energy, he talked about the organization's efforts to manufacture equipment to generate power from wind energy so that there will be a strong industry in Egypt capable of meeting the growing needs of the State in the energy domain.

In this context, the organization made a contract with a German company operating in this domain to get high-capacity wind turbines. The first two wind turbines went operational at Zafarna power station in March of 2013 and they are the biggest of their kind to be installed in Egypt.

He added that the organization is now setting up the first production line to make components of wind turbines.

He said the organization's investments in renewable energy reached 13 million dollars so far.