By Eric Habimana

Benban solar park is a power complex of 41 solar power plants being developed in Benban, located in the Aswan governorate, Egypt. The Benban Solar Park is a part of Egypt's Nubian Suns Feed-in Tariff program, which is a major initiative to influence private sector capital and expertise, in order to support the goal of generating 20% electricity from renewable resources by 2022. The solar park is so large that it is visible from space.

In Egypt, near Aswan, is one of the largest solar parks in the world: Benban. Launched in 2018, with the commissioning of a first photovoltaic power plant, this megaproject is part of the strategy developed by the Egyptian New and Renewable Energy Authority.

The solar park received $55 million in financial support from the African Development Bank. At full capacity, the park's production capacity reaches 3.8 TWh of electricity per year. The site includes the construction of 34 solar power plants, each with a capacity of 50 MW.

During the construction period, the project provided up to 20,000 job opportunities, while 6,000 permanent positions were created by the companies involved in operating the park.

Hadeer Khalifa has been working on the site since its inception in 2018. She monitors the performance of photovoltaic panels: "I have learned a lot over the past four years and gained considerable experience thanks to the engineers on site and the various companies with which I have collaborated. And when you feel valued, when management appreciates your work, it's heartwarming," says the young engineer.

After three years of work, construction of one of the largest solar parks in the world is now complete and all its plots are now operational. Benban, in Egypt's Aswan desert, extends over 37 square km and will generate 1.5 GW, enough to provide renewable energy to more than 1,000,000 homes.

Welcome to Benban, Egypt, home to the largest solar park in Africa. It spans 37 kilometres and has a total generation capacity of around 1.8 gigawatts, which is enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

Once constructed, Benban will be the world's largest solar PV park, at an estimated total cost of between $3.5 and $4 billion.” The report continues, “The 41 projects on the Benban site will be connected to the Egyptian high-voltage network through four new substations, which will be constructed on the site by EETC.

The estimated operational lifespan of a PV module is about 30-35 years, although some may produce power much longer. So, while there are not many systems entering the waste stream right now, more systems will come to the end of their useful life in the next few decades. Six million solar panels later, the Benban Solar Park—more than 32 contiguous solar projects across 36 square kilometers of Egyptian desert—is poised to become the largest solar installation in the world.