Egypt’s Solar Atlas states that Egypt is considered a “sun belt” country with 2,000 to 3,000 kWh/m2/year of direct solar radiation. The sun shines 9-11 hours a day from north to south, with few cloudy days.
“At present the world is entering a new energy crisis. It’s fast becoming a global village and yet 850 million people are still living without access to electricity. In this evolving world, society and business share one critical challenge; How can we meet the energy demand while protecting the environment, by ensuring access to clean energy? To address the adversity innovation plays a prime role in building an effective solution and eversola is one of the solution providers.”
During a webinar conducted by EQ Magazine on “Egypt PV InvesTech”, the moderator Mr. Mohamed Fayad, Sales Managing Director – MASHREQ For Energy Systems mentioned that the webinar will mainly go around “How is the future of solar energy in Egypt?”
Ms. Moumita Sharma, Marketing Manager – Eversola Holding Co. Ltd. commented on the topic, “You know in Egypt there is a plethora of land and sunshine and it has the capability to produce around 7000 TW hours of solar power. And based on a recent study the energy sector contributes up to 13% of Egypt’s GDP and that’s a huge percentage. Second thing that I would like to point out is that additionally the population of Egypt is becoming much more environmentally conscious. So as and when a lot of clients are turning economically, financially aware and they are turning more into renewable energy. Overall I would like to say that normal people like us are becoming environment conscious, they are preferring more and more renewable energy. I would also like to add one thing that is also worth noticing that is it egypt’s solar production is not exclusively dependent on huge or mega projects but small projects like Egypt PC solar cell projects which is of 9 megawatt but is still has the capability to produce around 30 million kilowatt hour of power manually. Egypt PC projects also have attracted major investments. Once and when the government is given more subsidies to people it’s easier to crack into the market.
“Thank you Ms Moumita for your take on this. It’s a very good vision actually for the Egyptian market. The government is sinking now to turn Egypt an electricity hub and part of that we are already having some plan announced from the government to turn Egypt into 50% for electricity production from RE by 2030. We have two scales as of now. We can ask Ms Shrouk Sallam Renewable Energy Design Engineer – Elsewedy Electric since she is already working in electricity. Could you please put the light on what your take on this is.”
“I see that it’s so promising but there’s like any other countries that has certain policies that may have some restrictions but otherwise Egypt has strong thinking compared to any other countries. It has many cities and parts that could tolerate having large capacity of PV or solar. And something for other investors to come and invest in Egypt. And then it’s like a field of experience for all developers and there is no huge issue in that. So I guess it is like an attraction for the foreign investors and for Egyptian investors investing in solar energy would have experienced, positive one actually.”
M.F “Now we are already having some utility scale right now. It’s interesting for some developers. With that let’s welcome Mr. Sayed Meckawy – Projects General Manager – East Zeit Petroleum Ltd.”
“I’m going to be representing the oil and gas sector, which is the main user of energy. And this is a lot of area of requirement of the RE as our minister of petroleum encourages all the companies to have a source of RE. Either he can make a special department in each company representing as RE to encourage all the companies to use it. On the other hand we have main areas especially the remote area as the offshore platforms. We need something to be used as cheaper energy and also can be another companion’s bowl. But actually most of the use of energy is with the low bowl as I know and this will be better to use. However the hybrid reduces the cost. On the other hand we have as you know most of our area in the desert. This is a big source of renewable energy. I hope some investors can go through this sector which is a big user of energy in Egypt.
M.F “Did you have some case studies Mr Sayed about these cases in the petroleum sector?”
“We have some minor cases. Because the cost of the marine cable is very expensive. If you are using solar cells or wind in this area, I think it will be better. It will also be cheaper to use.”
M.F “How can you size this market Mr Sayed?”
“I think the reality as I told you, there are some areas. We are using diesel which is expensive. The wide area that we have is the desert. You can use it but of course this needs somebody to make an estimated cost for this source of power.”
M.F “Let’s bring Mr. Ahmed Ghandour, Chairman & CEO – SunWay EGYPT into the conversation.”
“Actually we need to defy the concept of investment in PV technology in many parts. The first part is how to implement the project to match Egypt. Everywhere we have specifications for each sector. Each sector needs energy for financial activity such as agriculture or manufacturing, this is another part.”
M.F “What are the challenges we need to discuss in the same genre?”
“Challenges, now the sector is bombing. Different types of quality of aspects. It is breathing without different company. As day by day we are spreading our project.”
M.F “I understand from what you are raising right now that we don’t have any Egyptian clear restrictions for technical implementation and to be controlled like on a grid system. However in the Solar company sector it is a very big market and there is no control point or the specifications.
I think Ms Shouk has a great presentation for us to more clearly understand the topic.”
Challenges faced by developers in the construction of utilities scale PV in Egypt
“I think this presentation pretty much covered the doubts of our panelist and people listening to us during the webinar. Can we please look at Ms Moumita’s presentation to get deeper into the discussion and see how Eversola changes the aspect.”
With the fully automatic manufacturing facility Eversola’s annual turnover is around > 40 billion
Eversola commercialisation in latest and emerging Technology with production of higher wattage and quality
Now talking about Egypt’s solar market along with its opportunities and challenges.
In Egypt the Solar photovoltaic sector has an installed capacity of around 1.6 GW in 2020. Out of which 90% of capacity is on grid
Eversola’s global presence
“I have a small question from your presentation. I saw your Global network. You already have some offices in Arabian countries?”
“Yes we do have operations there but we are not very much into that in Arabian countries as an entity but we are looking forward to having a better presence.”
