Renewable sector to grow robustly over next years: Moody’s

CAIRO – 8 September 2017: Renewable energy resources will see robust growth over the coming few years as several countries started to shift to clean energy, Moody’s Investors Service said in a research note Wednesday.

Reducing reliance on traditional energy resources will support the renewable energy transition from being a “marginal” supplement to a key focus of national energy policies, Moody’s said.

It added that wind and solar plants have become competitive in several countries compared to fossil fuels as capital costs declined.

"Emerging markets are a key market for growth in renewables, with countries such as China and India leading the charge as new renewable become competitive with other sources of power even in developing nations," Swami Venkataraman, a senior vice president at Moody's said.

The less dependence on traditional resources, the fewer burdens that will be placed on governments and consumers, Moody’s said.

Fueled by a severe energy shortage, the Egyptian government announced in September 2014 a mega project that will involve private sector companies in building solar plants in the governorates of Aswan, Minya and Hurghada under the ‘feed-in-tariff’ (FiT) scheme.
The plan, set by Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker, eyes generating 20 percent of Egypt’s energy supply from renewable energy resources by 2022.

Coming under the framework of the Paris Climate Agreement, development of Egypt’s solar energy sector will help reduce dependency on traditional gas-fired plants, which will eventually lead to saving more gas supplies that could benefit the budget if exported.