With imaginary sums.. 32 agreements to purchase renewable energy in Egypt

Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Madbouly expressed his interest in the projects that are being implemented in the field of new and renewable energy, and work to provide more facilities to attract more local and foreign investments to implement these projects and expand the existing ones, pointing to the agreements and memorandums of understanding that were signed on the sidelines of the climate conference. Especially with regard to green hydrogen.

In this regard, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly met with Dr. Mohamed Shaker Al-Marqabi, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, to review renewable energy projects and developments in green hydrogen production projects.

New energy projects

The Minister of Electricity gave a presentation on the position of new and renewable energy projects, existing and being implemented, and indicated that the electricity sector strategy in the field of new and renewable energies aims to reach 20% of the total installed capacity in the network in 2022.

"Benban" solar energy complex

Dr. Mohamed Shaker added that the “Benban” solar energy complex project is one of the most important projects implemented in the field of new and renewable energies, as it is considered the largest solar energy station in one place in Africa and the Middle East, and ranks fourth in the world, among the largest solar stations that produce solar energy. Electricity, as it produces 1465 megawatts, and has a capacity of up to 2000 megawatts.

32 Renewable Energy Purchase Agreements

He explained that 32 energy purchase agreements were signed with the total productive capacities, pointing in this regard to the pivotal role of the private sector for investment in this field.

He added that the volume of investments in the “Benban” complex amounted to $2 billion, and contributed to providing about 10,000 job opportunities, and also contributed to reducing harmful gas emissions by 2 million tons annually.

With regard to wind energy projects, Dr. Mohamed Shaker explained that the total installed capacity of wind energy amounts to 1625 megawatts, resulting from projects implemented by the New and Renewable Energy Authority in Zaafarana and Jabal Al-Zayt, in addition to projects implemented by foreign alliances.

"Ras Ghareb" wind farms

Among those projects, he mentioned, the wind power plants in Ras Ghareb, implemented by the (ENGIE, Orascom, Toyota) alliance, with investments amounting to 380 million dollars, with a capacity of 250 megawatts, as well as the wind plants of the “Lekila Power” company, with investments estimated at 320 million dollars. , and a capacity of 250 megawatts.

The Minister of Electricity noted the position of the projects being implemented with the volume of direct foreign investment to generate electricity from renewable energy (sun - wind), in which the volume of investments amounts to about $4.4 billion, explaining that by the end of 2025 the total installed capacity of renewable energies will reach 10,000 megawatts. 

The minister dealt with the studies on increasing the additional areas for wind energy projects, and in this regard he referred to the analytical data of wind at the level of the Republic shown through the Global Wind Atlas program, and the results reached to determine a number of areas and additional areas for the production of electric energy from wind energy, and the capacities expected production.

The Minister of Electricity reviewed the position of offers submitted by a number of specialized international companies to implement more wind energy projects with large capacities, to reduce natural gas consumption, in implementation of the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, in this regard.

Wind Energy

He dealt with the timetable for entering the capabilities of 18 gigawatts of wind energy, through a number of projects for which agreements were signed on the sidelines of the Climate Conference (COP27), which will be implemented by a group of global alliances, and he also referred to the agreement that was recently signed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. With ACWA Power to produce 10 gigawatts of renewable energy (sun - wind).

In this regard, he drew attention to the coordination and cooperation taking place with a number of concerned authorities, especially the National Center for Planning the Use of State Lands, to quickly allocate the lands necessary to implement the agreements that were signed, and to make them available to companies and alliances to start conducting the necessary studies and measurements to start implementing the agreed projects.

He touched on efforts to support and enhance international cooperation with a number of institutions in the areas of capacity building and knowledge transfer to plan the generation and transmission of electricity in light of the huge increase in renewable energies and their integration into the electrical grid.

Green hydrogen production projects

Dr. Mohamed Shaker Al-Marqabi also reviewed developments in green hydrogen production projects, referring to cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). To prepare the national hydrogen strategy, as well as the timetable for its preparation, explaining that the general framework for the outputs of the national low-carbon hydrogen strategy was announced during the Climate Conference (COP27), and the strategy is expected to be issued by the end of this year.

The minister addressed the executive summary of the strategy, pointing to Egypt's ability to produce green hydrogen, the lowest cost in the world, as Egypt can benefit from its competitiveness to achieve an ambitious plan and reach 8% of the global hydrogen market.

Shaker referred to the cooperation that took place with international companies in the field of hydrogen production, the memorandums of understanding that were signed in this regard, and the revenues that Egypt can benefit from according to the strategy.