Egypt's remarkable progress in renewable energy field

The shift towards renewable energy has become an absolute necessity to overcome dangerous changes that threaten our planet, so that countries begin to adopt new energy policies that depend on Increasing use of renewable energies such as solar and wind energy.

Egypt paid great attention to them during the last decade in particular, and proved its seriousness in this file, with its approval in early 2014 in the new constitution at that time, Article 32, which It stipulated that the state is committed to working towards optimal utilization of renewable energy sources, stimulating investment in them, encouraging related scientific research,  the state should work to encourage the manufacture of raw materials and increase their added value according to economic feasibility.

The strategy of Renewable Energy Authority affiliated to the Ministry of Electricity was also based on diversifying its sources, as it aims to use that energy in accordance with the country’s strategy 2035, which includes maximizing the role of renewable energy, so that its participation in the energy mix reaches about 42%, obivious by the progress of work in fields of solar energy, wind, hydropower plants, and Biomass.

Thanks to this strategy and the great efforts it made in this framework, in addition to pumping huge investments and establishing a number of projects, Egypt  was able to achieve a boom in the sector locally, and it was also able to highlight its major role in Energy transmission globally.

As it was able to reach an increase contribution of renewable energy sector in energy production to reach 6.2% in 2021 compared to 5.4% in 2005, hydroelectric power production recorded 13878 GWh, while wind energy projects recorded about 5737 GWh, solar energy about 4,393 GWh, during 2021/2022, according to The New and Renewable Energy Authority.

It was also able to increase the growth in the volume of foreign direct investment in Egypt in the fields of new and renewable energy, with an increase in the demand for investments in the field, driven by lower prices, in addition to the global trend to invest in clean energy to meet the challenges of climate change and global warming resulting from the previous expansion in fossil fuel production.

The clean energy sector in Egypt is expected to continue its significant growth, which is reflected in the expectations of major international agencies. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) expected in a recent report that renewable energy capacity in Egypt would grow by 4.1 gigawatts between 2022 and 2027, supported by onshore wind capacity, followed by Photovoltaics, Wind power is expected to acquire 12.2% of total annual generation in 2035.

According to the expectations of  International Finance Corporation, Egypt will overtake South Africa in the next decade to become the largest electricity market in Africa, Egypt must work to attract climate-smart investments worth EGP 2 tn by 2030.

Moreover, Egypt ranked first in the Arab region in the production of electricity from wind and solar energy, with production rates of about 3.5 gigawatts. It also ranked second in terms of its contribution to the production of solar energy at the level of Africa, which recorded 16%, and came in third place in the production of wind energy, with a rate of about 21%.