What should the state do to ensure our ambitious renewable targets become reality? The road to boosting the percentage of renewables in our energy mix is not without challenges, but what should the state do to ensure we reach the finish line?

In part one of the story, we looked at the pipeline of projects that will help us fulfill the state’s goal of adding 28 GW of renewable energy to the country’s energy mix over the next five to seven years and the incentives needed to keep the investments coming.

Refresher: The government wants to see 3-4 GW-worth of renewable energy projects go live and start feeding the national grid by next summer to fill the energy supply gap. This push is part of a broader plan to secure the country's energy needs amid declining natural gas production and expanding electricity interconnection projects to enable exports to surrounding countries.

To help make renewables more attractive, the government is looking into scrapping the cap on renewable energy production for households and allowing the state to purchase whatever excess energy produced to use it to feed the electricity grid, one of our sources said. Former head of the Sustainable Energy Division Adel Bishara told Enterprise that the government needs to provide more incentives to encourage individuals and companies to expand the use of solar panels.

Remember: Integrated grid-connected, small-scale solar systems could save Egyptian households on their electricity bills and ease pressure on the national grid. The Electricity Ministry has reportedly begun implementing hikes that will see household electricity prices rising by 14-40%.

It doesn’t come without challenges: The high cost of implementation and barriers to financing plans are preventing many from turning to the sun’s rays. We dove into the ins and outs of households going solar in a Going Green published earlier this year.

The solution? Bishara suggested cutting down on the costs of approval and installation procedures and fully exempting solar panel imports from customs to help push more households to go solar.

Incentives for solar panel assembly: Reducing the cost of building solar power plants heavily relies on tax and customs breaks, Romany Hakeem, chairman of Beneshty Solar and vice chairman of Sustainable Energy Development Association told Enterprise.

The bigger picture: More households using solar energy to keep the lights on will help the government cut down on fuel costs — the government is looking to install up to 30 GW of new renewable energy as it looks to save USD 4.1 bn in annual fuel costs.

No time to waste: Making the shift to renewable energy is no longer a luxury with ongoing challenges in the traditional energy sector and the world shifting to reduce emissions, Hakeem said.

Regulatory challenges remain: Hakeem pointed out that inconsistent regulations remain a major challenge to the growth of the renewable energy sector. He noted that some regulations prevent the sector from reaching its full potential, pointing to the cap on renewable energy production.

AS THINGS STAND-

Our current energy mix: Despite recent efforts, renewable energy’s contribution to the country’s energy mix remains limited. A source from the Electricity Ministry explained to Enterprise that the major renewable projects set up over the past few years helped make Egypt one of the first countries in the region to enter the renewables field, pointing to the Benban solar power plant and a number of wind farms.

By the numbers: Renewable energy made up some 11.5% during the past fiscal year and is forecast to make up some 13.8% during the current fiscal year. And the government sees renewables making up 18.6% of Egypt’s total energy mix by the fiscal year 2026-2027.

Expanding our renewable capacity is a top priority: Our sources at the Electricity Ministry confirmed that expanding the country’s renewable energy and encouraging private sector investment in green energy sources is on top of its list of priorities for the coming period.

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