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Austria eyes WtE investments in Egypt: A consortium of unidentified Austrian companies is reportedly planning on developing four waste-to-energy (WtE) plants in Egypt with an investment ticket of EUR 150-250 mn each, renewable energy expert Al Gohary Al Shebiny told Al Borsa earlier this week on the sidelines of the Arab Forum for Pioneers in Economics, Investment, and International Cooperation. The companies have preliminary plans for plants in Cairo, Giza, Gharbia, and Dakahlia — which together can meet up to 30% of the country’s electricity demand, Al Shebiny said.
Things are already in motion: The Austrian investors have already conducted feasibility studies for the projects, which they plan to submit to the Egyptian government, Al Shebiny added. They are hoping to reach a 20-25 year usufruct agreement for the projects to allow time to recover from the high investment costs.
About the plants: The WtE plants would burn non-recyclable solid waste and the heat produced triggers the rotation of a steam turbine to generate energy. Each plant would operate for up to 8.5 k consecutive hours before pausing for periodic maintenance. Filter systems are included to purify 99.9% of exhaust fumes — a feat making the facilities suitable for residential areas. Around 70% of the production line components would be manufactured locally.
Why Austria? Austria already has an advanced waste management system in place that produces electricity and thermal energy for heating, Al Shebiny added. For example, the Spittelau waste-to-energy plant in Vienna processes 270k tons of waste annually to generate 500 GWh of heat, enough for 60k households. The EVN thermal waste treatment plant in Zwentendorf processes over 500k tons of household waste annually and generates around 80GWh of electricity and 200 GWh of heat per year.
ICYMI- A delegation of representatives from more than 15 Austrian companies is visitingCairo this month to explore cooperation in the industrial sector. Austria is also working to prepare an MoU to be signed with the Madbouly government focused on renewable energy and green hydrogen.
REMEMBER- Egypt already wants to attract more WtE investments: The Environment and Finance Ministries are working to boost WtE investments by amending laws regulating public contracts and increasing the feed-in tariff rate. Land for WtE projects has already been allocated across eight governorates for completion over the next three or four years. The government was set to sign contracts with eight local-foreign consortiums to produce a total of 1.7 TWh of electricity from municipal solid waste at a total cost of up to USD 1.2 bn in August. An initial target to generate 300 MW of electricity from WtE projects by 2025 was set in 2020.
