The story seems so nice, but maths and observations on Quattara basin don't add up.

First of all, climate around seas in deserted areas isn't much better than further in land. See the shores in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Iran.

But let's suppose someone decides to build the pipe and extract energy. It means one has to build a 58 km pipe under the ground (which is doable, like Gothard base tunner in Switzerland).

Then, 4 issues remain:

1) you must treat the water coming in the pipes, because it's possible to clog the pipe, the turbine, etc.

2) what inclination do you need to get a reasonable discharge of water?

3) how much power one can extract from the flow? Rough estimates give me several megawatts per 10 m of elevation per 1 pipe of 10 m in diameter (this is the kind of size in new large-diameter tunnels). Seems like a lot of piping for not much power.

4) Erosion of the shores that may fill the basin up. This is what happens to natural lakes on plains.

And key issue here: the more you discharge through the pipe, the higher the level of water in the lake, the less energy you can extract.