Hydropower doesn’t seem destined to play a major role in achieving the country’s ambitious renewables production targets — but energy storage is another matter. In Egypt’s push to increase the share of renewables in its energy mix to 42% by 2030, hydropower’s contribution to the energy mix is expected to decrease from a current 7% to 5% in the same time frame as the state focuses more on wind and solar. But energy production is only one side of the renewables coin, as energy storage also plays an incredibly important role in ensuring a consistent and renewable energy network.

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Enter pumped storage hydropower, an alternative to more traditional batteries that can keep the lights on even when the sun goes down and the wind stops. In essence, pumped storage hydropower works by using surplus electricity to pump water uphill into a reservoir in periods of low demand or high supply, releasing it downhill through turbines to generate electricity when demand rises or supply falls. This energy storage method allows networks that rely on solar and wind power to keep the lights on even when the wind drops or the sun goes down.

Pumped storage hydropower doesn’t just help store energy, it can play a vital role in stabilising the grid. Especially with the planned increase of renewables feeding the grid, our aging grid is subject to spikes that can overload the grid. Unlike conventional power plants, the turbines in pumped storage hydropower plants can instantaneously be powered up or down to maintain precise frequencies and maintain grid health.

The technology can also form the backbone of a more resilient energy infrastructure, due to what is called its black start capability. Unlike other energy production systems, pumped storage hydropower relies on the kinetic energy of stored water, which allows the plant to restart the system without the need for an external power source.

The government is serious about pumped storage hydropower, and is pushing to develop several projects. Just this week, Renergy Group Partners — which has the state’s National Organization for Military Production among the alliance — announced their interest in developing a landmark hybrid renewables project in the Sinai with a significant pumped storage hydropower element. The 4.4 GW pumped storage hydropower component will help produce 3.3 GW of sustained capacity night and day, powered by a 15 GW plant, implying a roughly USD 15 bn price tag for the solar farm alone at current construction rates in Egypt.

The government is also looking to retender its USD 2.7 bn pumped storage hydropowerproject at Ataka Mountain to investors, a government source told EnterpriseAM. The 2.4 GW project has already secured backing from some international financial institutions and is expected to be offered up next year, we were told. The government has also wrapped up studies for two pumped storage hydropower projects in Luxor and Qena with a combined capacity of 2 GW and price tag of up to USD 2.5 bn, according to unconfirmed reports earlier this year.

More traditional forms of hydropower like dams are still important sources of reliable energy output, but they have limitations. While legacy facilities like the High Dam, Aswan I & II, Esna, Nagaa Hammadi, and Assiut are undergoing upgrades, the growth potential for river-based hydro faces a fundamental constraint — the decline in Nile water flows due to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, according to a paper from the AUC’s Alternative Policy Solutions.

Hydropower’s role historically in Egypt should also not be underplayed, with the Aswan High Dam having once provided about half of the country’s energy production in the 1970s when it reached peak output.

While hydropower seems set to play a less important role in production going forward, it still provides 2.8 GW of energy production, behind only wind energy in the renewables sphere with an output of 3.0 GW, according to data from the New and Renewable Energy Agency seen by EnterpriseAM. It also plays a sizable role in reducing emissions, cutting some 2.0k kilotons of carbon dioxide a year in the first quarter of the year, way ahead of wind’s 1.4k kilotons and solar’s 760 kilotons.

Geography also makes dams not the obvious choice for policymakers, given Egypt’s relatively flat topography along the Nile and the dispersal of the Nile through numerous waterways and canals in the Delta.

The government has also looked into wave and tidal current energy, but isn’t convinced. The state has conducted several feasibility studies for the technology that has been pioneered by some northern European nations, but comparatively high costs and difficult geography along the Mediterranean have persuaded the government to not follow up the idea further, a government source told EnterpriseAM.

Your top green economy stories for the week:

  • Novastar Ventures’ Africa People and Planet Fund III will channel some USD 50 mn into Egyptian climate tech companies under a USD 200 mn program, set to focus on four other countries.
  • More renewable energy coming to the country’s energy mix: The Electricity Ministry and the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company signed complementary agreements with Infinity Power and Hassan Allam Utilities Energy Platform for two solar power plants with a combined capacity of 1.2 GW and 720 MWh of battery storage.
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