A water desalination system dedicated to irrigation is set to be developed in Mohgra, in northern Egypt.
The project involves construction of desalination plant and solar power plant and storage facilities will provide energy for water desalination. The storage system is expected to provide permanent availability of electricity.
The project is set to be implemented by Norwegian investor Empower New Energy, Swedish electricity storage company Azelio, energy provider Engazaat and French water desalination company Mascara.
Multilateral commitment
These companies have divided themselves tasks towards the project. Empower is financing Engazaat’s construction of a 2.2 MWp solar photovoltaic plant, while Azelio will connect electricity storage system to the facility that will be capable of producing 4.4 GWh of clean electricity per year.
Gothenburg, Sweden-based company on the other hand will install an ES.POD® unit. This system stores renewable energy in recycled aluminum and provides electricity and heat on demand. The water treatment system will be installed by Mascara, a company based in Chartres, France.
“The project demonstrates the multilateral commitment to reduce poverty and hunger for more than 25,000 small farmers in one of the most water-sensitive regions in the world. They no longer need to go through the technical hurdles of financing, implementing, operating and maintaining sophisticated clean energy and water utilities; they will only pay for what they consume on a ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) basis,” explains Muhammad El Demerdash, Engazaat’s president and CEO. According to him, the use of solar energy for desalination should offset the emissions of 1,600 tons of greenhouse gases (GEZ) into the environment per year.
