A new factory for the production of solar and wind energy equipment will be built in cooperation with German, Chinese, Russian and Korean companies in 2016 year, the Minister of Military Production Mohamed Al-Assar said at the opening session of Business New Egypt’s third annual energy Conference entitled “Energy and Sustainable Development” on Tuesday.
Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker said that the state successfully developed a 2030 strategy to improve the renewable sector. The strategy aims to increase production capacity in collaboration with international electricity companies to establish power plants using the latest technologies to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and increase efficiency.
The Electricity Ministry has a plan to convert gas stations into combined cycle plants to raise the generating efficiency and reduce polluting emissions, Shaker’s deputy Osma Asran said during the opening remarks of the conference.
“The ministry is negotiating with international companies for the establishment of power plants through the use of clean coal,” Asran said. A 2,500 MW capacity factor coal plant will become operational soon, he added.
The Ministry of Electricity is working to provide a parallel electricity grid to the old one so as to raise the efficiency and quality of transmission and distribution across Egypt, according to Asran.
The ministry is also working to establish control centres in Cairo, Alexandria, and the Suez Canal Development Area to improve energy efficiency in order to reduce the cost of constructing power plants.
By rationalising the energy market, the ministry was able to save a surplus of 170 MW by promoting the use of LED lights bulbs.
According to Asran, the ministry issued new bylaws for fossil fuel and renewable energy sources while working to restructure the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC). The ministry aims to boost dependence on solar, wind, and hydro-power to 20% by 2022 and 25% by 2030.
The Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El-Molla, said that his ministry will put forward more concession areas to international oil companies in the coming period to increase Egypt’s crude oil reserves.
The ministry has succeeded in reducing the debts of international oil companies operating in Egypt by about 50% over the past 18 months, Al-Molla’s First Undersecretary Mohammed Taher said in a speech. There will be 28 tenders in the coming period for different areas across Egypt.
The Ministry of Petroleum aims to accelerate the development of new gas discoveries and link them to existing production lines and then the national grid as soon as possible. This will increase the current production capacity. This strategy will be carried out while a number of petroleum refineries are also expanded to meet the growing demand for petroleum products and energy required for national economic development plans and new projects.
“We have many projects in the field of petrochemicals worth $2.6bn. They represent some of the main aspects that the Ministry of Petroleum will be paying attention to during the upcoming period,” Taher said.
Managing the energy support organisation through its planned restructure over the upcoming three years is underway, in parallel with the national plan to save energy.
Al-Assar said that the Egyptian government is aware of the importance of energy as the foundation stone in the implementation of recently launched developmental projects.
Al-Assar praised progress in the recent phase, including liberalising the energy market and allowing the private sector to produce electricity with the government.
Deputy Minister Hassan Abdel Megeed praised the government’s commitment to produce nuclear energy. An agreement was signed to construct the Dabaa plant in order to produce nuclear energy on the coast of the Mediterranean in coordination with Russia. This will eventually increase Egypt’s energy production from different sources.
“The state’s plan includes initialising the procedures to establish a factory that manufactures components of solar and wind energy production plants. We are in communication with major international companies from China, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, and Germany,” said Abdel Megeed
A factory for solar panels was recently established. The existing human resources are being enhanced and improved in order to produce all necessary components for the industry, he added.
Another factory was established to produce electricity meters in order to further expand the rationalisation of the energy market.
A memorandum of understanding was signed with a South Korean company in order to benefit from its expertise in developing the Egyptian energy sector’s production capabilities, according to Abdel Megeed.
