Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy requested the ministry of investment and international cooperation to seek new international funds to set up a geothermal energy map in Egypt, Mohamed Mousa Omran, Ministry of Electricity’s first undersecretary for Research, Planning, Authorities’ Follow-up and International Cooperation.
“We know we are a little bit late in terms of activating geothermal energy…we would like to identify the areas that possibly enjoy geothermal energy, with close collaboration with the ministry of petroleum and mineral resources,” he mentioned, affirming that his ministry coordinates with various financial institutions for the launching of new renewable energy projects.
The cabinet approved the sector’s strategy for producing 20% of Egypt’s electricity needs from renewable energy by 2022 and 40% by 2035, Omran acknowledged, noting that the ministry will intensify its cooperation with the private sector to accomplish its plan.
Notably, wind energy will be generating 12% of Egypt’s produced electricity, hydropower will contribute with 5.8%, and solar with 2.2%. The government has recently announced its renewable energy plan.
“We have a very successful project in Aswan, Benban Solar Park, which will be operational at end of the first half of 2019. The project is a model of gathering international financial institutions, the green climate fund, and the private sector,” he declared.
The ministry does not face any difficulties in providing the funds needed for renewable energy projects, as many financial institutions are interested in these types of projects as well as energy efficiency projects, the first undersecretary proclaimed.
The next phase of solar energy projects will be offered over an auction system instead of the new electricity tariffs, Omran added, noting that the ministry is intensifying its efforts to make full use of all sources of electricity including hydro stations, solar, wind, waste and geothermal energy.
Furthermore, he pointed out that the ministry cooperates with a Chinese company to store solar and wind energy to be used in peak usage times.
In February, Daily News Egypt reported that an Egyptian-Chinese alliance offered to launch a solar power plant with a capacity of 100MW and to sell the generation for the Building Materials Industries Company (BMIC), chairperson of Misr Asset Management (MAM), Ezz Othman, said.
Chinese Yingli Solar Company will collaborate with MAM to establish the solar station, with investments estimated at $80m, and agreed with BMIC to sell the generated electricity to its cement factory.
