Economic Future of Concentrating Solar Power for Electricity Generation

Abstract

Worldwide, the climate change is a major universal concern. CO 2 is the main cause of international warming, and at least 85% emission results of CO 2 came from conventional energy depleted sources (oil, natural gas and coal) for energy generation. Hence, renewable energy has been the focal point of most regulations of governments to aim at greenhouse gas reduced. In Egypt, greenhouse gas emissions from rural activities amount to some 25% of national greenhouse gas emissions, amounting to approximately 27 million t CO 2 equivalent annually. Moreover, these emissions are supposed to increase rapidly in the coming decades, more than doubling in the next 15 years, as rural populations grow and activities become increasingly energy intensive. The Mediterranean region embraces Europe, North Africa and Middle East and has enormous potential in solar energy. It has abundant solar radiation, cheap land and high electricity demand, which could make this region the universal hub for concentrating solar power (CSP) generation. This chapter discusses the Egypt market potential of CSP. The chapter covers recent CSP trends and discusses in detail the CSP market development. The chapter aims to obtain the data sources to compare the CSP and levelized electricity cost. Enas Shouman presents a strategy for CSP plant market entrance in Egypt and a comparison between the electricity cost for Egypt model case and the cost evolution of CSP plants on the basis of expectations for the expansion as an international level. This chapter proposes a concept strategy for management CSP in Egypt. The chapter included two applied parts. The first part is to calculate the generating electricity cost from conventional power sources and its expansion in the future. Then, the second part will be followed by identifying the CSP cost and its growth in the future.