Written by: Salma El-Saqqa
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi affirmed that expanding reliance on new and renewable energy sources and building a stable energy infrastructure in Egypt represents an important strategic direction, noting that implementing this direction requires a precise definition of the electrical grid's needs and the costs required for its development, in addition to the timeline required to complete these works.
Requirements for increasing the share of renewable energy
The President explained that in the event of proposals to increase the contribution of new and renewable energy to reach about 40% of the total consumed energy, the basic step lies in assessing the capacity of the current grid, through coordination with the Ministry of Electricity to determine the cost of upgrading the grid to become capable of receiving this percentage, and knowing the time period required to complete the development operations.
Infrastructure and production development
El-Sisi pointed out that efforts are not limited to establishing new generation plants, whether they rely on fossil fuels such as natural gas, petroleum, and mazut, or renewable sources such as nuclear energy, solar energy, and wind energy, but rather extend to include preparing the basic infrastructure necessary to accommodate production and transport and distribute it with high efficiency.
Necessary investments and supply sustainability
The President stressed the need for any plans to establish new generation plants to include a clear definition of the required cost and funding sources, emphasizing the importance of clarifying the volume of investments needed to provide citizens' energy needs. He also pointed out that building generation plants requires additional investments to establish transmission and distribution networks capable of delivering electricity to consumers, and preparing control and command stations responsible for regulating and managing production, transmission, and distribution operations to ensure the stability of the integrated system.
