Shuman's solar pumping plant at Maadi
Planta solar de bombeo de Shuman en Maadi
- Date
- 1913 · confidence high
- Place
- Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
- Credited to
- Frank Shuman, with C. V. Boys
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
Five parabolic-trough collectors over 60 m long heated water to run a steam engine of about 55 hp that pumped Nile water for irrigation. It was the first large solar thermal power plant.
The plant stopped when the First World War broke out and because of the low price of oil.
What it led to
- parabolic-trough solar thermal plants
- solar pumping for irrigation
- the idea of replacing coal with sunlight in arid regions