Egypt’s renewable energy sector presents investment opportunity
Egypt continues to mobilize private regional and foreign capital to support the country’s renewable energy sector, with wind and solar PV under the feed-in-tariff scheme presenting an investment opportunity of at least $6 billion to 2018, one of the region’s leading investment banks commented today in the build-up to the World Future Energy Summit.
Facing growing energy demands and pressure on fuel supplies for conventional energy generation, Egypt is focusing on renewable energy as a viable and effective source to add to the gas-dominated energy mix. Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Authority aims to generate 20 percent of its power from renewables by 2020.
Egypt will need to add about eight gigawatts, foreseen to be split between 5.5 gigawatts of wind power, and 2.5 gigawatts of solar power according to EFG Hermes, one of the leading investment banks in the Arab World.
As a result, EFG Hermes predicts a debt and equity investment opportunity of approximately $6 to $7 billion for Egypt’s feed-in-tariff renewable energy program to 2018.
In these challenging times, renewable energy is increasingly serving as an innovative solution for Middle East and North Africa countries, especially Egypt, to rebuild, reconstruct, and drive diversified economic growth.
Renewable energy’s low cost of production, reduced environmental impact, and ease of implementation in rugged and demanding situations make renewables the best power source for Egypt’s future. Whether developed by governments, the private sector, or NGOs, renewable energy can transform the key development pillars of power, health, infrastructure, education, and people.
