Renewables in Egypt and Jordan
Solar and wind power – traditionally the preserve of tiny niche producers - are being scaled up to industrial levels that could save the planet from runaway climate change.
Combining video, pictures and text in a new storytelling format, we look in depth at how this revolution is playing out in two EBRD countries, Egypt and Jordan, and what that means for the world.
Egypt – plentifully supplied with sun - is the latest country in the southern and eastern Mediterranean to embrace clean energy.
It is embarking on a vast project to build a 37-square-kilometer solar plant in the desert at Benban, outside Aswan - part of the Egyptian government’s ambitious plan to generate 20 per cent of its energy needs from renewable, and privately owned, sources in the next five years, and at least 35 per cent by 2030.
Jordan, like Egypt, has traditionally – and expensively - imported most of its fuel. Although Jordan has only a tenth of Egypt’s population, it faces similar demographic challenges - it expects significant rises in energy demand as a result, among other things, of population growth.