{"id":79132,"date":"2023-08-24T01:00:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T01:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/climate\/2023\/08\/24\/today-will-petrojet-build-two-concentrated-solar-power-plants-in-egypt\/"},"modified":"2023-08-24T01:00:03","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T01:00:03","slug":"today-will-petrojet-build-two-concentrated-solar-power-plants-in-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/climate\/2023\/08\/24\/today-will-petrojet-build-two-concentrated-solar-power-plants-in-egypt\/","title":{"rendered":"TODAY: Will Petrojet build two concentrated solar power plants in Egypt?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, ladies and gents. <\/strong>The news cycle remains slow as people enjoy the last stretch of summer, but there are still some updates trickling in from around the region and abroad.<\/p>\n

OUR TOP STORY TODAY- <\/strong>A consortium of Egypt\u2019s Smart Engineering Solutions and Germany\u2019s Frenell have reportedly selected Egypt\u2019s Petrojet to be the contractor for two concentrated solar power stations in Egypt\u2019s New Valley.<\/p>\n

^^ We have all the details on this story and more in the news well, below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- Greece continues to battle raging wildfires: <\/strong>Wildfires near Greece\u2019s Athens continued to spread as powerful winds continued to fan flames. At least 20 people have been killed due to the blazes breaking out across the country amid an unprecedented summer that saw record-breaking temperatures, flooding and wildfires in Europe and North America. \u201cIt\u2019s a not-seen-before situation,\u201d Greek Civil Protection minister Vasilis Kikilias said, saying that around 355 new fires broke out in the past five days with 209 in the last 24 hours alone. He deemed this year\u2019s summer as the first to have so many regions put on highest level of fire alert. Several European nations are helping Greek authorities contain the fires, with firefighters and helicopters dispatched from Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Romania and Sweden.<\/p>\n

The spreading wildfires is dominating coverage in the international press:<\/strong> Reuters<\/a> | Bloomberg<\/a> | The Financial Times<\/a> | AFP<\/a> | The Associated Press<\/a> | BBC<\/a> | The New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/a>WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Jordan makes a bid for smart grid infrastructure:<\/strong> The Jordanian government is undertaking studies with the World Bank on smart grid infrastructure in a bid to accommodate the expected influx of renewables capacity in coming years, push down power losses, and boost the country\u2019s electrical transmission capacity, according to a statement<\/a>. Jordan is also drawing up a plan to increase dependence on local power assets, especially on the clean energy front as part of its target to have renewables comprise 50% of its electricity mix by 2030.<\/p>\n

A new renewables strategy soon? <\/strong>The kingdom is expected to announce its green hydrogen strategy this quarter, Assistant Secretary-General of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Hassan Al-Hayari said in June<\/a>. The government will also reportedly launch its long-term energy strategy<\/a> in 2024, with incentives geared at boosting renewable energy, power storage, and green hydrogen production expected to be central to the plan.<\/p>\n

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WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Extending operations of existing nuclear reactors requires bns: <\/strong>Creating a global net-zero pathway by 2050 will require USD 50-100 bn in investments to extend the operations of existing nuclear reactors, according to the latest Supply Chain<\/a>Report<\/a> by the World Nuclear Association (WNA). Global nuclear generation capacity could reach as much as 839 GW by 2040 through new reactor deployments, but would require between USD 900 bn to USD 1.8 tn in financing, the report says. The global capacity of operable nuclear power reactors reached 437 units generating 394 GW as of the end of 2022, the WNA notes, adding that an additional 60 units were under construction and over 400 more reactors were at various stages of planning. To reach carbon neutrality, international procurement investments should reach around USD 3-4 bn annually.<\/p>\n

REMEMBER- MENA is going big on nuclear: <\/strong>The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation began operational readiness<\/a> procedures for the fourth and final unit of Abu Dhabi\u2019s Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant last month. The third unit added 1.4 GW to the UAE grid back in February, and the fourth phase is set to increase the plant\u2019s full production volume to 5.6 GW of clean energy once fully operational \u2014 meeting some 25% of the UAE\u2019s total energy needs. Over in Egypt, Russia\u2019s state-owned Rosatom nuclear power company is building the country\u2019s 4.8 GW Dabaa nuclear plant<\/a>. Egypt and Rosatom began construction on the USD 30 bn plant in July 2022 and it should come online at the start of the next decade.<\/p>\n

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WATCH THIS SPACE #3- G20 countries doubled their fossil fuel spending in 2022 compared to pre-covid figures:<\/strong> Public spending on coal, oil, and gas in 20 of the world\u2019s biggest economies doubled since 2019 reaching a record USD 1.4 tn in 2022, a report<\/a> by Canadian think tank International Institute for Sustainable Development<\/a> (IISD) found. G20 countries paid USD 1 tn in subsidies, USD 322 bn in investments by state-owned enterprises, and USD 50 bn in loans from public finance institutions, the report notes. IISD called on G20 leaders to end fossil fuel subsidies in developed countries by 2025, and by 2030 for the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

Subsidies have a huge potential for reform:<\/strong> The IISD found that by setting a higher carbon tax of USD 25 to 75 per ton of greenhouse gasses, G20 governments can raise an extra USD 1 tn a year, which can open up \u201csignificant sums that could instead be used to address some of the planet\u2019s most pressing challenges,\u201d chief economist of a sustainability group at the World Bank and one of the lead authors of the study Richard Damania told The Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

REMEMBER-<\/strong> A meeting of G20 energy ministers held in India last month failed to reach consensus on a fossil fuel phasedown as several major fossil fuel producing nations led by Saudi Arabia blocked the move<\/a>. The IISD report comes ahead of a meeting of G20 countries<\/a> in Delhi next month which is expected to set the tone for the UAE\u2019s COP28 in November.<\/p>\n

Can we expect better at COP28? <\/strong>While world leaders had agreed to phase out \u201cinefficient\u201d fossil fuel subsidies at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow two years ago, last year\u2019s COP27 failed to make further progress<\/a>. Whether COP28 will be able to deliver a more tangible action plan for phasing out fossil fuels has been questioned by some groups<\/a> who say the UAE has conflicting interests<\/a> as both the summit host and a top oil producing country.<\/p>\n

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DATA POINT- <\/strong>Global investments in renewable energy are doing really well: <\/strong>New global investment in renewable energy soared 22% y-o-y in the first half of 2023 to USD 358 bn, reaching a record high for any six-month period, data published by BloombergNEF<\/a> showed earlier this week. Most of the investments were for project deployments through asset finance and small-scale solar, representing a 14% y-o-y rise. China still maintained its position as the largest market during this period with USD 177 bn of new investments, while the US and Germany drew USD 36 bn and USD 11.9 bn in investments respectively.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re still far off mark: <\/strong>Spending rates on renewable energy deployment across asset finance and small-scale solar still needs to accelerate by 76% to align with the net-zero path, according to BNEF. The world needs to allocate a total of USD 8.3 tn in renewable energy deployment between 2023 and 2030 to stay in path with the global net-zero trajectory by 2050. This means that the world still needs to see investments of USD 590 bn through asset finance and small-scale solar per six-month period.<\/p>\n

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The Enterprise Finance Forum is taking place on 18-19 September at <\/strong>the St. Regis Hotel in Cairo.<\/strong> This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings that allow senior members of our community to openly and frankly discuss critical issues in key sectors of the economy.<\/p>\n

This is our first two-day event<\/strong>, which should give us plenty of time to dive into the nitty gritty of this industry we love. Our panels will see CEOs, bankers, investors and founders gather to discuss the future and trends shaping banking, finance, fintech and NBFS.<\/p>\n

Our full agenda will be out at month\u2019s end. Among the topics we\u2019ll be discussing:<\/strong><\/p>\n