SOLAR ENERGY FOR RIVER NILE CRUISERS

Sa？etak The concept of green shipping is now becoming an important issue for ship owners, shipping lines and ship builders globally. Solar energy may supply an environmentally friendly part to the total energy balance of a ship. Egypt is located in the world’s solar belt and has excellent solar energy availability. Therefore, the aim of the present work is to present a case study for installing a photovoltaic solar system onboard a River Nile cruiser plying between Cairo and Aswan. Meteorological data for Cairo-Aswan navigation route is presented to calculate the output power of that system. A life cycle cost analysis is conducted and compared with the cost of generating the same amount of electricity by diesel generators to assess the economic benefits of the installed system. Stability of a River Nile cruiser, after the installation of a photovoltaic solar system, is rechecked to insure that the stability requirements of the Egyptian River Transport Authority are maintained