Governments Policies, Strategies, and Action Plans Promoting Renewable Energy in Egypt
North Africa’s most populated country, Egypt is a land with enormous potential for energy generation. The country’s financial system is essentially depending on the power sector. However, the use of coal and other fuels for power generation has become a hazard to the environment and is contributing to climate change. Also, the ever-increasing population has resulted in an increased demand for electricity in the country. This has strained the country’s domestic energy resources.
The government is therefore committed to the diversification of the energy sector by utilizing the abundant renewable resources that the country is blessed with. The widespread deployment of modern renewable energy technologies is now a priority for the Egyptian government. Studies have revealed that the renewable market equipment has a potential worth of billions of dollars. This will sincerely improve the financial system of the country.
With all these factors in mind, the government of Egypt has launched a strategy called the Integrated Sustainable Energy Strategy to 2035 (ISES). The strategy has been developed to solve the energy security and stability issue that the population has been facing.
Egypt Vision 2030 was a strategy built before the ISES 2035 for the sustainable development of the nation. Among all the other pillars of this strategy, the energy sector was one.
Reform Measures in the Energy sector under Vision 2030
The government announced certain reforms in this strategy which are:
- To reduce the subsidies, the government set up some measures that rationalized all the subsidies related to energy.
- To get investors from the private sector, the government introduced the renewable feed-in tariff law.
- The government also issued a new electricity law with the aim to de-regulate the market.
What are the goals of Vision 2030?
The strategy has identified three important goals that the country aims to achieve by 2030. The goals are as follows:
- To provide reliable and modern energy services to the entire population at an affordable rate by the year 2030.
- To improve the percentage of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030.
- To increase the rate of improvement of efficiency in energy services by 2030. The aim is to double this rate.
What is Integrated Sustainable Energy Strategy 2035?
This strategy has been built on previous strategies concerning sustainable development and renewable resources. The 2035 strategy emphasizes the importance of renewable energy and its contribution to the country’s economy. All its goals are in alignment with the Egypt Vision 2030 goals. The plan was launched in the year 2017.
Strategy’s take on Renewable energy capacity
Currently, Egypt’s total installed capacity of renewable is 3.7 GW. This capacity includes 2.8 GW of hydropower, and 0.9 GW makes up solar power and wind power. For a country with a swelling population, this capacity is quite less. ISES 2035, therefore, aims to increase the installed capacity of renewables by 20% by the year 2022 and another 42% by 2035.
The scheme is to produce a total of 61000 MW of renewable energy. This capacity is divided into three broad categories:
- Solar power: 31000 MW
- Concentrated solar power: 12000 MW
- Wind power: 18000 MW
Egypt is a country that falls in the “sunbelt” and receives 9 to 11 hours of sunlight in a day. The abundance of solar radiation in this region has immense potential for energy generation, and the 2035 strategy is all set to make the best use of it.
For the plan till 2022, out of the 20%, 12% energy is to be generated from the windmills and the remaining from hydropower and solar energy.
IRENA Recommendations for ISES 2035
The ISES 2035 developed by the Egyptian government is definitely a great strategy to lead the country towards sustainable development and maximum utilization of the renewable resources that it possesses. However, the country faces some drawbacks in terms of geography and infrastructures. To benefit from the transition to renewable energy, Egypt needs to overcome the hurdles.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has, therefore, given out comprehensive assessments and recommendations for the accomplishment of the major goals mentioned in the ISES 2035.
The report generated by IRENA highlights the need to update the electric power sector of Egypt. the recommendations also pointed out changes to future strategies and the current market framework.
To help Egypt adopt modern changes with renewable energy services, IRENA has listed seven major measures. Here are the important ones:
- IRENA suggested improvements in the electric power sector so that the growing benefits of renewable energy resources are reflected in terms of lower costs of power and other similar things.
- Simplification of the regulations was pointed out to be an important thing. Also, IRENA recommended that institutional roles and responsibilities with regards to solar power and wind power development should be made clear before the projects begin.
- Updating the energy strategies for the future is necessary to realize the potential of biomass.
- Market frameworks require reformation so as to improve the economic factor of each project.
- Campaigns should be carried out by the Egyptian government to assess the capacity of wind and solar energy sources.
- The expansion of renewable energy complexes is also recommended. This is necessary for achieving financial feasibility and also risk mitigation.
- IRENA suggests the creation of a masterplan that can benefit manufacturing at the local level.
To start with, Egypt has already taken up three of these seven recommendations. This includes renewable energy complexes expansion.
Plans for Future
Egypt has planned to install three big power plants, one for thermal energy and two for clean coal technology. This step is expected to suffice the country’s high demands for power and electricity. In the renewable energy sector, Egypt plans to have solar and wind power increased by 20%. Many experts have considered this target as an achievable one.
Conclusion
The country has a lot of hurdles to overcome for successful sustainable development. However, the path taken is the right one, and some big achievements have already been made.
