Qattara Depression Project

The first documented suggestion for flooding large parts of the Sahara desert was by French geographer François Élie Roudaire whose proposal inspired the writer Jules Verne's final book Invasion of the Sea. Plans to use the Qattara Depression for the generation of electricity reportedly date back to 1912 from Berlin geographer Albrecht Penck.Murakami M. [http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/80858e/80858E0a.htm#2.11_Mediterranean-Qattara_solar-hydro_and_pwnped-sto Managing water for peace in the Middle East] United Nations University Press. p.64-66

The subject was discussed in more detail in 1927 by John Ball, English director of the Survey of Egypt.{{Cite journal|last=Ball|first=John|date=1927|title=Problems of the Libyan Desert|journal=The Geographical Journal|volume=70|issue=1|pages=21–38|doi=10.2307/1781881|jstor=1781881}} He oversaw the mapping of the area in 1927; and also suggested using it to generate hydroelectricity.{{Cite journal|last=Ball|first=John|date=1933|title=The Qattara Depression of the Libyan Desert and the Possibility of Its Utilization for Power-Production|journal=The Geographical Journal|volume=82|issue=4|pages=289–314|doi=10.2307/1785898|issn=0016-7398|jstor=1785898}}Koger, Grove. 1999. "The Great Sahara Sea: An Idea Whose Time Has Come." Mercator's World. Volume 4 (2). March/April 1999. Page 23. Ball also made the first preliminary calculations on the achievable filling rate, inflow rate, electricity production and salinity.

In 1957 the American Central Intelligence Agency proposed to President Dwight Eisenhower that peace in the Middle East could be achieved by flooding the Qattara Depression. The resulting lagoon, according to the CIA, would have four benefits:MI: Gale. 2009. Farmington Hills, CIA Suggestions, Document Number CK3100127026. Reproduced in "Declassified Documents Reference System"

• It would be spectacular and peaceful.
• It would materially alter the climate in adjacent areas.
• It would provide work during construction and living areas after completion.
• It would get Egyptian president Gamel Abdel Nasser's "mind on other matters" because "he need[ed] some way to get off the Soviet hook."

{{See also|Friedrich Bassler}}

From 1964 onward Prof. Friedrich Bassler led the international "Board of Advisers" which was responsible for planning and financing activities for the project. He also advised the Egyptian government on the matter from 1975 onward. He was appointed by the German Federal Ministry of Economics in Bonn to make a preliminary feasibility study.{{cite web |url=http://www.wasserbau.tu-darmstadt.de/wasserbau/ueberuns/geschichte_1/index.de.jsp |title=Historie des Instituts und der Versuchsanstalt für Wasserbau |access-date=2009-07-18 |publisher=Technische Universität Darmstadt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228210110/http://www.wasserbau.tu-darmstadt.de/wasserbau/ueberuns/geschichte_1/index.de.jsp |archive-date=2015-12-28 }}

Bassler was the driving force behind the Qattara Project for nearly a decade. Halfway through the 1970s a team of eight, mostly German, scientists and technicians was working on the planning of the first hydro-solar depression power station in the world. The first "Bassler study" of 1973 laid the basis for the Egyptian government to commission a study of its own. It decided in 1975 that Bassler and a group of companies known as "Joint Venture Qattara" should conduct a feasibility study of the project.

The project concept was: Mediterranean water should be channeled through a canal or tunnel towards the Qattara Depression, which lies below sea level. This water would then fall into the depression through penstocks for electricity generation. The water would evaporate quickly because of the very dry and hot weather once in the depression. This would allow more water to enter the depression and would create a continuous source of electricity.

A canal 60 meters deep would connect the Mediterranean with the depression's edge at this{{which|date=February 2025}} narrow isthmus. This canal would deliver water to the depression as well as being a shipping route towards the Qattara lake, with a harbor and fishing grounds in the depression. The depression was to be filled to a height of 60 m below sea level. It would take a total of 10 years to fill to that level. After that the incoming flow would balance out against the outgoing evaporation, and the lake level would stabilize.

In the first phase of the project the Qattara 1 station was to generate 670 megawatts (MW). The second phase was to generate an additional 1,200 MW. A pumped-storage hydroelectricity facility would increase the peak production capacity by another 4,000 MW, thus totaling about 5,800 MW.{{Fix|text=Figures don't really agree.}}

The main problem with the project was the cost and technical difficulty of diverting seawater to the depression. Calculations showed that digging a canal or tunnel would be too expensive. Demining would be needed to remove some of the millions of unexploded ordnance left from World War II in Northern Egypt. Consequently, use of nuclear explosives to excavate the canal was another proposal by Bassler. This plan called for the detonation in boreholes of 213 nuclear devices, each yielding 1.5 megatons (i.e. 100 times that of the atomic bomb used against Hiroshima). This fit within the Atoms for Peace program proposed by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953. Evacuation plans cited numbers of at least 25,000 evacuees. The shock waves from the explosion might also affect the tectonically unstable Red Sea Rift located just {{convert|450|km|mi}} away from the blast site. Another danger was increased coastal erosion, because sea currents could change in such a way that even very remote coastal areas would erode. Because of the concerns about using a nuclear solution, the Egyptian government turned down the plan,{{Cite book|title=Macro-engineering Seawater in Unique Environments|date=2011|publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg|isbn=9783642147784|editor-last=Badescu|editor-first=Viorel|series=Environmental Science and Engineering|location=Berlin, Heidelberg|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-14779-1|editor-last2=Cathcart|editor-first2=Richard B.}} and the project's stakeholders gave up on the project.

Since then, scientists and engineers still occasionally explore the viability of such a project, as a key to resolving economic, population, and ecological stresses in the area, but the project has yet to be undertaken.Hafiez, Ragab A. 2011. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-14779-1_23 Mapping of the Qattara Depression, Egypt, using SRTM Elevation Data for Possible Hydropower and Climate Change Macro-Projects]. 2011, Macro-engineering Seawater in Unique Environments, pp. 519-531. SpringerBaghdadi, A.H.A. & Mobarak A. 1989. [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00908318908908939?journalCode=ueso19 A Feasibility Study for Power Generation from the Qattara Depression using a Hydro-Solar Scheme]. 1989, 11, pp. 39-52. Taylor and Francis.Kelada, Maher. [http://www.miktechnology.com/qattara.html Global Hyper Saline Power Generation Qattara Depression Potential] MIK Technology

On April 11th, 2023, Egypt announced a contract with EGIT Consulting to study the feasibility of the project.{{Cite press release |date=2023-04-11 |title=EGIT Consulting Signs Agreement to Conduct a New Feasibility Study for the Qattara Depression with Elite Capital & Co. |url=https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2023/04/11/2644142/0/en/EGIT-Consulting-Signs-Agreement-to-Conduct-a-New-Feasibility-Study-for-the-Qattara-Depression-with-Elite-Capital-Co.html |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=GlobeNewswire News Room |language=en}}

As of 2024, Saudi Arabia and UAE are [https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/gulf-oil-giants-saudi-aramco-adnoc-set-sights-lithium-2024-03-08/ exploring projects] to mine lithium for electric vehicles from existing onshore salt pans as well as salt pans supplemented with Persian Gulf sea water. Although the added value of additional table salt on global markets is low, the clean energy boom presents a unique lithium opportunity if a scheme such as Qattara Depression Project were to materialize. As of December 2024, no such project yet is being seriously considered.

• Arpa–Sevan tunnel
• Sahara Sea
• Salton Sea

{{reflist|30em}}

• M. A. Eizel-Din and M. B. Khalil.: "Egypt's Qattara Depression potential hydropower". – In: Proceedings of the international conference "Handshake across the Jordan – Water and Understanding in the Middle East". In: Forum Umwelttechnik und Wasserbau, Nr. 10. IUP – Innsbruck University Press, Innsbruck, 2011, pp. 89-96

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Category:Macro-engineering

Category:Proposed energy infrastructure in Egypt

Category:Water supply and sanitation in Egypt