IRENA to present report on Egypt in Cairo

CAIRO - 8 October 2018: General Director of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Adnan al-Amin arrived in Cairo on Oct. 8 to take part in the renewable energy conference that will kick off on Oct. 9 and will be attended by Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker.

The conference is held to discuss the expansion of renewable energy usage. Adan presides a delegation that will participate in the three-day event and will present the report IRENA prepared on the future of renewable energy in Egypt. The report offers an integrated evaluation of Egypt’s capabilities in the renewable energy domain.

The New and Renewable Energy Authority (NERA) has adopted a strategy since 2016 to increase the sector’s contribution to Egypt’s energy to 20 percent by 2022 from the current 10 percent. The breakdown is 12 percent for wind energy, 2 percent for solar energy, and 6 percent for hydropower. According to the authority, the most suitable areas for generating wind energy are western Suez Gulf, eastern and western Nile valley, and some locations in Sinai.

A wind farm will be built near the Suez Gulf with the capacity of 2 billion kilowatts per year. Another wind farm is almost finished in Gabal El-Zeit with a capacity of 580 megawatts.

Egypt has begun building the largest solar energy station in the world- containing 40 plants - in Aswan’s Binban with a capacity of 1465 megawatts. The first plant in the station started operating this year with a capacity of 50 megawatts and is called “Infinity.”

A solar energy station will be built in Kom Embo city in Aswan with a capacity of 26 megawatts. One more will be constructed in Hurghada with a capacity of 20 megawatts. Three other stations with a capacity of 50 megawatts each will be built as well. One of these stations will be built in Zaafarana at Red Sea Governorate, in addition to a wind farm that will be built in the same area.

Shaker revealed earlier this year that four solar energy stations with a total capacity of 500 megawatts were built by investors, stressing that lifting energy subsidies will boost investments in the renewable energy sector.