Dubai?s Access Infra Africa is leading a consortium that is expected to develop six solar and wind plants in Egypt, to boost its power generation capacity
Egypt?s electricity ministry has already pre-qualified Access Infra Africa to develop four solar plants with a total capacity of 200MW and two wind plants with a capacity of 100MW, stated Reda El Chaar, chairman of Access Power.
According to El Chaar, Egypt is one of those places where renewables make sense as no investor is likely to turn down opportunities in the country for the reason that there was unrest.
Dubai-based Access Infra Africa has plans to invest US$500mn in Africa?s renewable energy sector, particularly in Egypt. The private firm, which is a partnership between UAE?s Access Power and France?s Eren Development, is keen to boost Egypt?s power generation mix as the nation battles an energy crisis, stated Reuters.
The North African nation is expanding coal and renewable energy use, but is dependent on natural gas to power homes and industries. However, Mohamed Shaker, electricity minister of Egypt said that the government plans to reduce its reliance on natural gas and fuel oil for power generation from 90 per cent to 62 per cent by fiscal year 2020/21. By 2020, the country hopes to procure 20 per cent of its energy needs from wind and solar sources.
