The academy sees the plant as the first of its kind in North Africa, and as the fruit of a genuine collaboration between the academic community and the industrial sector. It implemented the project in collaboration with national partners — universities, research centres and the private sector — as well as other parties from Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

MATS was the largest European Union (EU) supported research project outside Europe when work began in 2011, with the EU contributing €12.5 million. The academy contributed €2.5 million, and the rest provided by the private sector.

It aims to ‟localize the technologies of solar power in Egypt, therefore it has deliberately made use of Egyptian patents,” said Mahmoud Sakr, the president of the academy, at the opening ceremony. Local components make up 40 per cent of the plant, he added.

The government is counting on the €22-million (US$26 million) project to serve as a pilot for similar projects, aiming to turn Egypt into an exporter of renewable energy technologies.

For further details see the report by Rehab Abd Almohsen on SciDevNet