2. Energy in Egypt: A Recap
• Despite the Middle East’s abundance of energy resources, Egypt
currently suffers from a severe lack of dependable energy.
• The cause? A combination of an aging infrastructure, under-
utilized resources, and a growing dependence on energy.
• 25 percent of the nation’s power plants are older than 20 years
of age and do not perform to their full potential. This makes
meeting the country’s increasing power demands particularly
difficult. Electricity usage in Egypt has increased by 7 percent
each year for the last 10 years.
• The culmination of these factors has recently led to widespread
power outages and explains the nation’s growing reliance on
foreign imports.
3. >>Egypt is Africa’s
largest consumer
of oil and gas.
*Egypt accounts for 20 percent of the continent's oil
consumption and 40 percent of its natural gas
consumption.
4. Egypt’s First-Ever Coal-Fired Plant
• Egypt’s energy industry is currently dependent
upon a number of gas-fired power plants, but
these are unable to perform to their full potential.
• Enter in: plans for the nation’s first coal-fired
power plant, to be built in the Suez region of the
country in the coming years.
• The power plant will primarily be funded by Al
Nowais Investments, an Abu Dhabi investment
firm chaired by well-known industrialist Hussain
al Nowais.
5. The Facts
• Egypt’s new coal-fired power plant will supply the country
with nearly 4,000 megawatts of electricity.
• The city of Ayoun Moussa, located near the Suez Gulf,
will be home to this new power plant.
• A nearby jetty will also now be used to import coal to the
plant.
• Coal is expected to be imported from
both Indian and South African
markets.
6. Private Investments
• Al Nowais Investments is one of the first private investors to
stake a claim in Egypt’s struggling energy industry.
• Egypt’s decision to open up its energy sector to private
investors was influenced in large part by the reality that
upgrading the power grid would require immense funding.
• Egypt therefore aims to attract $14.5 billion worth of private
investments in its energy sector within the next 3 years.
• Egypt’s energy industry is currently managed by the state-run
EEHC organization, led by Gabr El-Desouky, who has played a
large part in the country’s private investment outreach
initiative.
7. Energy Goals for the Future
• Aside from opening the door to private power investors
to fund the construction of individual plants, Egypt also
aims to completely overhaul its power grid in the near
future.
• Reports estimate that doing so would cost at least 5
billion dollars.
• The government is also striving for a more diverse
makeup of energy sources, which they’ve stated will
include renewable energies.
8. Energy Goals
• As evidence of his commitment to renewable
energy, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
recently announced that the country plans to
acquire the capacity to generate 4,300 watts of
wind and solar power.
• Minister of Electricity, Mohammed Shaker, has
also publicly stated that Egypt aims to reduce its
dependence on gas by approximately 30 percent
by the year 2020.
• Egypt has already eliminated subsidies on
petroleum projects to generate more competitive
prices.
9. Final feasibility plans and third-
party investment negotiations for
Hussain al Nowais’s Egyptian coal-
fired power plant are currently in
the works.
Sources:
http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL6N0RV3FI20140930?pageNumber=1&virtualBran
dChannel=0&sp=true
http://www.platts.com/latest-news/natural-gas/abudhabi/egypt-turns-to-renewable-energy-as-
competitive-26987756