In 2020, the Ministry of Electricity plans to resolve tenders of renewable energy projects with a capacity of 1350 MW, comprising solar energy projects with a capacity of 600 MW in the West Nile via auctions, in addition to two tenders for the construction of two solar and wind stations in the West Nile with a capacity of 450 MW.
Consultations are being held on finalising the procedures for establishing a Vistas company wind energy plant with a capacity of 200 MW. The tender that was launched a long time ago and funded by foreign banking institutions, as well as resolving the tender for the construction of a solar power plant in Zaafarana with a capacity of 50 megawatts, which is competed on by a number of companies.
Mohamed Al-Khayyat, head of the New and Renewable Energy Authority, said that Egypt made significant investments in the field of renewable energy and is constantly increasing, helping the Egyptian economy recover over time.
He explained that the authority is always looking to attract Arab and international companies to invest in Egypt by establishing plants to produce electricity from renewable sources as a way of diversifying sources of energy production. The government’s overall plan is to have 20% of the national electricity grid powered by renewable energy by 2022.
He explained that the authority has long-term plans for large areas suitable for renewable energy stations in Egypt. The country already allocated land areas of 7,600 square km to establish projects to produce renewable energy.
He stressed that these areas are distributed between 1200 square km along the Red Sea coast, about 4200 square km in the West Nile region, and about 2200 square km in the East Nile region distributed over three governorates: Beni Suef, Minya, and Assiut.
According to the controls set by the Ministry of Electricity, there is a number of mechanisms through which projects are submitted to investors, and they include competitive bidding, bidding auctions, feed-in tariffs, net measurement, and independent producer.
According to government procedure for projects such as renewable energy production, there are two entities that must be consulted with before implementing a project. One entity is the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), specialised in purchasing the electricity produced from the stations under an agreed-upon tariff. The other entity is the New and Renewable Energy Authority, specialised in granting lands under its umbrella using usufruct.
Sabah Mashaly, head of EETC, said that various energy station projects are in different stages of studies and procedures, and the EETC is committed to purchasing their productive capabilities after entering into contracts.
She emphasised that the feed-in tariff projects opened investors’ appetite to implement renewable energy plants in Egypt. The EETC received many requests from Egyptian, Arab, and foreign companies to launch projects, confirming the attractiveness of the sector to direct investment.
She said that the EETC has concluded many memoranda of cooperation and agreements to purchase energy with Arab and international companies, and has an integrated vision to take advantage of investors’ electrical capabilities, whether for domestic use or export.
Mohamed Abdel Rahman, CEO of the Electricity Utility and Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency, said that electricity and renewable energy sector in Egypt had a great development, achieved an unprecedented boom, and the Egyptian model in the energy file received great international attention.
He stressed that the Zambia and some COMESA countries began to copy and apply the Egyptian model and even translated the Egyptian Electricity Law into French with plans to implement it.
He explained that the solar energy complex in Benban, Aswan, reflects Egypt’s success in providing a mixture of energies of various forms, which enhances the ability of the energy sector to attract foreign direct investment, through the largest specialised Egyptian companies in this field.
