Egypt plans to produce 42% of its power from renewable resources

CAIRO – 12 February 2022: Egypt seeks to produce 42 percent of its power from renewable resources, a large portion of which would be solar power, Ghada El-Gendy, the Executive Director of the Arab Renewable Energy Company, affiliated with the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI).

Egypt has a pioneering experience in implementing a solar power plant in Uganda under the supervision of the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Gendy said in an interview with Extra News.

She added that Egypt is one of the largest geographical locations in terms of solar brightness throughout the year.

Egypt is set to become a pivotal center for energy exchange spokesperson of the Ministry of Electricity, Ayman Hamza, said in October.

Hamza told CBC that all countries that have an electric interconnection with Egypt will benefit from the cooperation. Earlier on Tuesday, Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus signed electricity linkage agreements.

“Interconnection lines and networks must be strong, which confirms that there is a great boom and careful planning in the electricity sector, especially with regards to the submarine cable between Egypt and Europe through Cyprus and Greece,” Hamza told another channel, ON TV.

Europe needs electric power and Africa has huge amounts of renewable energy resources, he said, adding that Egypt’s energy sector has a bright future.

Egypt has also recently signed an electric interconnection agreement with Saudi Arabia, which includes a submarine cable, aerial power lines, and substations in the two countries.

“The capacity of the production plants is nearly 57,000 megawatts per day, but that is only partly available at 47,000 megawatts per day… The maximum we have reached was last summer at 34,000 megawatts, whereas we previously had a deficit of up to 6,000 megawatts,” Hamza said.

Despite the energy Egypt is exporting to several countries, there is a surplus of 11,000 megawatts, which Egypt rather calls “reserve,” according to Hamza.