Egypt has taken accelerated steps in the renewable energy file, and has adopted an ambitious strategy to increase its contribution to electricity production, through implementing a number of mega projects and taking a package of measures in order to motivate the private sector to participate in this field. These plans have succeeded in securing the needs and permanently eliminating the electricity crises, as well as increasing the production of renewable energy by 76% within 5 years, where Egypt has entered the list of the best 36 countries in the world in the renewable energy index, as this sector is becoming the wager horse in the economic development plans.

On Behalf of CEBC & ECIC; Eng. Motaz Raslan welcomed our distinguished Speakers of the roundtable discussion: Dr. Mohamed El-Khayat, Chairman of the New and Renewable Energy Authority-The Ministry of Electricity; Dr. Hend Farouh, UN-funded Egypt PV Project Manager; Dr. Mohamed Abdel Rahman, CEO of the Electricity Regulatory Authority & Consumer Protection and finally Gen. Atef Yacoub, Head of the Energy & Environment Committee – CEBC & ECIC. He also thanked all distinguished guests that joined this important discussion.

Eng. Motaz Raslan, in the opening remarks, highlighted that the rise of Egypt’s ranking in the renewable energy index according to the World Bank, to become among the best 36 countries in the world, and comes as the second highest rate of clean energy flows in the past decade.

Then he added that we have a safe reserve that reaches the global average and is estimated at 25% of the energy generated. Also the renewable energy portfolio certainly had a significant share in the energy strategy approved by the Supreme Energy Council in 2016, which extends until 2035 to achieve its strategy, which aims to bring electricity generated from new and renewable energies to more than 43% in 2035, The short-term plan will reach 20% by 2022.

He stressed, that these figures confirm that Egypt can be a major player in the global energy market, God has loved it with the potential and huge sources of renewable energies, from wind, solar and water, which if exploited optimally we will become one of the most important markets in the world in this field. “We are many years late in relying on renewable energies, but it is not too late and we have begun to put our feet on the right track, and perhaps the projects that are being implemented are the best evidence of this, and I remember them as the Banban solar complex in Aswan, the Jabal Al-Zeit wind power plant and others,” he said. Of the stations that are implemented in different provinces.

Perhaps the reason for optimism in this file is to stimulate private sector investments to enter this field and give it a lot of facilitation and incentives, which I believe will contribute significantly to the success of the state’s renewable energy strategy. He concluded: “I believe that many of the challenges that hindered Egypt’s launch in the renewable energy sector are over and that there is now an opportunity to amend some of the legislation necessary to launch this sector to continue to write more success stories.

The seminar was moderated by Gen. Atef Yaacoub, Chairman of the Energy and Environment Committee of the Canada Egypt Business Council as he thanked Eng. Motaz Raslan, the distinguished Speakers & attendees for being here & was delighted to be with CEBC & ECIC to discuss this essential topic “Renewable Energy … The Future of the Egyptian Economy”. He stressed the fundamental change in the electricity and energy sector since the Ministry of Dr. Mohamed Shaker.

Then he mentioned that Egypt lived in a state of panic in the past because of the blackout, but now the electricity sector has received special attention from the government, which led to tangible changes for instance the Projects that enter solar energy as one of the sources of energy used within factories or activities and support factories in the republic and recently strengthen hotels and the tourism sector and I do not forget in the opening of the power plant in JW Mariotte opened by H.E. Dr. Mohammed Shaker; Minister of Electricity and H.E. Dr. Yasmine Fouad; The Minister of Environment and Dr. Rania Al-Mashat; Minister of Tourism, followed by a few weeks, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat in Switzerland, added in one of the channels in Switzerland, Indicated that a solar power plant was opened in the main hotels in Egypt as noting that Egypt is currently moving to green tourism to preserve the environment with the attraction programs and the UN agenda 2030, which is moving to new and renewable energy.

Dr. Mohamed El-Khayat thanked the distinguished Speakers & Attendees for being here & was delighted to be with CEBC & ECIC.

He highlighted the total investments of renewable energy projects in Egypt during the past period amounted to 4 billion dollars, including projects implemented with investments worth 2 billion dollars during the past two years.

Dr. El-Khayat emphasized that the state seeks to increase its investment with the private sector in the field of renewable energy, with the aim of increasing the contribution of this sector to produce 20% of the total volume of electric energy used in Egypt, and to double that percentage to 40% by 2035.

Then he continued: Egypt succeeded in this field due to the legislative reforms that it implemented in the field of renewable energy, in addition to allocating lands, noting that the state allocated about 70.6 thousand square kilometers for solar and wind projects, including 1,200 kilometers in the Red Sea, in addition to 6 thousand One kilometer in the east and west of the Nile, and about 37 kilometers in the Banban complex in Aswan. He reported that the total volume of energy generated in Egypt from renewable energy sources is 3,000 MW of wind and solar power, and about 6,000 MW of water.

And finally; he stressed that the procedures for obtaining land require obtaining about 11 licenses to implement the projects. El-Khayat said that Egypt succeeded in attracting investments worth between $1.5 billion and $2 billion during the past two years, due to the legislative reforms implemented in the field of renewable energy from the allocation of land for renewable energy projects, most notably the complex Saffron for wind power, oil mountain complex, and Banban solar complex.

Dr. Mohamed Abdel Rahman CEO of the Electricity Regulatory Authority & Consumer Protection thanked the distinguished Speakers & Attendees for being here & was delighted to be with CEBC & ECIC.

He said because of technological advances the agency is considering defining the necessary regulatory framework from all sides, and the goal is to have a shift to benefit from renewable energy in Egypt.

He added: We seek to find more advanced models to take advantage of advanced technology in renewable energy projects in conjunction with lower mission prices.

He mentioned that many global changes would lead to a transformation in energy, which would require a change in the form of production and consumption of electricity, and these changes are considered as challenges we face, such as the depletion of fossil fuels.

He stressed that the most important of these changes is the shift from the use of traditional networks to smart grids and the shift from regional electrical connectivity to global connectivity and from traditional cars to the use of electric cars and from electric power generation using fossil fuels to dependence on renewable energy sources.

He pointed out that the measures that Egypt has implemented over the past four years to deal with the challenges faced by the sector and create the appropriate environment to encourage private sector participation, and despite the challenges a number of measures, initiatives and reform policies have been taken to transform energy in order to secure and sustain electrical energy supply and improve the efficiency of its use.

Dr. Hend Farouh; Director of the National Program for Small Solar Cell Systems (Egypt-PV) thanked CEBC & ECIC for inviting her as well as the other distinguished speakers & was glad to be part of this essential topic; I will present one of the projects that currently exists on the scene, which is the project of small solar cell systems connected to the grid: a system of less than 500 kilowatts (less than half a mega) She said that the program, which is presented in cooperation between the Industry Modernization Center and the United Nations with funding from the Global Environment Facility, succeeded in transferring 64 of the 134 projects submitted during a tender that was put forward to convert the energy used by them to solar energy.

According to the director of the program, the “Egypt-PV”; The program seeks to remove all barriers faced by energy consumers from homes, hotels and companies and provide them with technical advice when switching to solar energy. She added that the energy generated from all the projects implemented by the program since its inception amounted to 9.6 megawatts, compared to 4 megawatts, which was aimed at achieving it at the beginning of implementation.

Dr. Farouh explained that the program succeeded in overcoming a number of obstacles that were facing the installation of solar cells, including the lack of funding, by providing funding ranging from $150 to $200 per kilowatt of electricity, and then giving up support because to recover The cost of installing these cells after two or three years after it was 8 years.

She emphasized that the program works to deepen the local component in the manufacture of solar cells to reduce their prices, in addition to displaying all the investment available in this field through the industrial map. The program successfully trained some 201 trainees in solar cell synthesis. And we still say anyone likes to receive this technical support for training whether for engineers or technicians ‘Egypt-PV’ welcomes him and happy during his work because the human resources are the real origin in addition to the educational sector of schools in the fifth Settlement and October assembly and currently also we are working on public schools and we wish to repeat to That the foundation is to build human perceptions, not just a station.

The floor was then opened for a serious of Q&As between the audience and the speakers.