The Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Mohamed Shaker, met with the Danish Ambassador to Egypt, Svend Olling, to discuss investment opportunities and cooperation in their allied field of renewable energy.

The Egyptian-Danish Energy Partnership Program (2019-2022) is to push Egypt’s green transformation forward and invest in a renewable future. The partnership is due to an agreement between Egypt’s ministries of international cooperation and electricity and the Danish ministry of climate, energy and utilities’ energy agency.

The Egyptian Minister said that the government has been working with its development partners to rise above the challenges facing the electricity sector. One of the strategies of the government is to benefit from the natural resources in the country, including new and renewable, as well as increasing renewable energy’s share in the electricity system.

Egypt plans to increase the share of renewable energy in the electricity network to 20% by 2022 and 42% by 2035. The share was 5% in 2014.

One of the reasons Egypt is adopting a large-scale programme is to encourage the private sector to participate in initiatives that can draw investors to Egypt. Investors’ confidence in the electricity and renewable energy sector has increased, as several local and foreign private investors are taking part in these projects, which include the establishment of solar power plants, hydropower facilities and wind turbines.

Mechanisms such as auctions and tenders are being provided for the private sector. The auctions are held by the International Finance Corporation, which approves various energy companies to be qualified.

The Minister said the ministry wants to take on electricity linkage projects with neighbouring countries, to allow Egypt to be an exporter of electricity to Europe and a regional energy centre in the future.

The Danish Minister said investing in Egypt is a critical gateway to Africa. He expressed Denmark’s desire to continue investing in the country and increase cooperation between the nations’ electricity sectors.