Investigation of Solar Energy Potential and PV-Outputs in Rural and Desert Areas: Case Study Egypt

Abstract

This study aims to identify the best strategic sites in Egypt available to build the PV systems needed to support required electricity to the country and the desert areas, in addition to deduce the total monthly, annual electricity budget and their generation costs. Egypt has a high solar energy potential which is crucial for sustainable development, as it receives 3450 hours of solar radiation (SR) throughout the year with a high intensity ranged from 8.5KWh/m2/d in southwest part to 2.1 KWh/m2/d at the north coast. The observed SR at four stations (Asyut, Aswan, Kharga, Cairo) were used to assess the accuracy of the ERA5 reanalysis dataset. Moreover, seven strategic sites were chosen across the country including the Western Desert (El-Golf, Habatta, and Sewa), the Eastern Desert (Saffaga, Shiab-Elbanat), and the Sinai Peninsula (El-Agma and El-Arish) to identify the most suitable stations for the construction of PV systems. Three different types of PV cells with different efficiency (η1=19.1%, η2=22.6% and η3=22.4 %) were utilized to compute the energy that could be generated at the lowest cost at the seven selected sites across Egypt. The results showed that the monthly total cost from η1 was 0.011 $/W during June and exceeded 0.015 $/W in December, while the annual total costs are ranged from 0.0119 $/W in El-Golf and 0.01494 $/W in El-Arish. Also, the result for η2 was ranged from 0.01$/W to 0.026 over El-Golf and Shiab-Elbanat, while the last cell η3 was recorded high cost over all sites but gives more energy. Finally, it is concluded that El-Golf, Shiab-Elbanat, and Saffaga are the best three sites with the lowest coast for building a PV system followed by Habatta and El-Agma, while the energy generation costs at both El-Arish and Sewa were the highest.