CAIRO, Oct. 11 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's Ministry of Transportation said on Monday that it will use the roofs of government buildings and affiliated agencies to establish solar power stations.

Egypt has been taking measures recently to diversify sources of energy, in a bid to face increasing demand. 

In a statement, the ministry said that above-ground metro stations will be among the buildings used to generate electricity, MENA reported.

The Egyptian Company for Metro Management and Operation has partnered with the Arab Organisation for Industrialisation to implement two models of solar power plants on the roofs of Demerdash  (15 kilowatt/ hour) and Ghamra metro stations (30 kilowatt/ hour), according to the statement.

Both models are almost complete and will be connected to the national network for electricity.

In an interview with satellite channel ONtv, official spokesperson of the Cairo Metro Company Ahmed Abel Hady said that the Demerdash model cost around EGP 170,000, while the Ghamra model cost around EGP 360,000.

"This serves as a preliminary step towards using all above-ground metro stations for the same purpose," Abdel Hady said.

Egypt announced in 2014 ambitious plans to develop renewable energy, including wind and solar projects to be installed over three years.

According to Reuters, Egypt aimed to meet 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, but has pushed that back to 2022.