Cairo Solar: The Egyptian Government Is Not Serious About Relying on Renewable Energy – Solar Panels

The Future of Renewable Energy Dependence in Egypt

Cairo Solar, a solar energy company, has accused the Egyptian government of lacking seriousness in relying on new and renewable energy projects to meet part of its electricity needs. The company claims that the government has ignored the demands of developers who have already begun implementing infrastructure for their projects.

Recently, the Ministry of Electricity stipulated the removal of the international arbitration clause as a condition for signing contracts, replacing it with local arbitration. “We contacted the ministry two weeks ago, explaining that this clause is crucial as it is essential for securing foreign financing, which most project developers rely on. However, the government completely ignored us,” said Hisham Tawfik, Chairman of Cairo Solar, in an exclusive statement to Al-Shorouk.

In response, 21 solar energy developers have sent a letter to the ministry notifying it of their decision to halt their projects due to the removal of the international arbitration clause.

This is not the only issue, according to Tawfik. He stated that the government’s pricing agreement for purchasing electricity per kilowatt-hour has reduced the number of companies interested in solar energy projects from 45 to only 12 due to the low economic feasibility.

In October 2014, the Ministry of Electricity and Energy announced a plan to generate 4,000 megawatts of renewable energy with an investment of $6 billion under a feed-in tariff system, qualifying around 136 global and local companies and consortiums.

The project was part of a government strategy to make renewable energy one of the main sources of power generation, aiming for a 20% contribution to the total energy mix by 2022. However, only a limited number of companies have proceeded with the required procedures and moved forward with implementation.