Smart Engineering Solutions, in cooperation with the Ministry of Military Production, plans to launch concentrated solar power (CSP) plants and manufacture components of this system in Egypt with investments of $ 1.2bn.

Osama Kamal, company’s chairperson told Daily News Egypt that they started the selection process of CSP companies to cooperate with, “from a shortlist of up to16 companies, by the end of November, in collaboration with the international energy expert, Hany Al-Nokrashy.”

He added that upon the selection of the company, there will be a partnership, to deepen the CSP technology and start manufacturing within the factories of military production within 12 months.

Kamal revealed he is preparing draft legislation to replace old and outdated electricity stations with CSP power stations.

According to Kamal, the work plan the construction of five CSP power plants with a total capacity of 250 megawatts, 50 megawatts each, with $1.25bn investment, as each station costs around $250m.

“The state will not bear the burdens for the implementation of these projects, up to 70% of the financing will be from international bodies, 10-15% will be from local banks,” he explained.

In regards to the feasibility of CSP, Al-Nokrashy said that it has a higher yield and lower cost. He added that CSP plants use mirrors to concentrate the sun’s energy to drive traditional steam turbines or engines that create electricity.

“Energy can be stored and used to produce electricity when it is needed, day or night so that electricity can be produced over 24 hours,” he concluded.