Minister of Industry and Trade Tarek Kabil announced that the ministry will establish a new solar energy project for industrial purposes within the next five years, adding that the ministry is cooperating with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and New and Renewable Energy Authority.
The cost of the project will reach around $6.5m, financed by the Global Environment Facility, in order to provide energy for the food, textile, and chemical industries, as they are the most consuming industries.
The minister added in a statement issued on Saturday that the Ministry of Environment is setting the standard and requirements for factories in order to benefit from the projects.
According to the statement, the minister held a meeting on Friday with UNIDO representatives to discuss the project's roadmap and to use solar energy for industries that depend on heat energy, which the ministry is willing to start establishing during the current year.
Kabil said that the project is part of the government's strategies to generate 20% of Egypt's energy from renewable sources by the year 2020, which amounts to 7200 MW.
The ministry stated that it is concerned with saving energy used by the industrial sector and making it more environmentally friendly to reduce CO2 emissions, adding that Egypt is ranked 11th worldwide in terms of rapidly increasing emission rates, according to the minister.
Kabil added that the ministry wants to increase the local components used in the project by encouraging the local manufacturers to increase their production.
The minister said that the project is divided into four main parts. The first is about creating the policies and incentives to use renewable energy technologies.
The second part is about promoting the benefits of renewable energy, while the third part is about encouraging local industries and supporting local investors to produce the components of solar energy plants. The fourth part is about training employees in the renewable energy sector.
The most important results of the project are establishing 100 experimental projects to use solar energy for heating processes, in order to use it in the industrial sector, and also to train 200 Egyptians in the field of establishing, fixing, and maintaining solar energy plants.
The government has to create new solutions to finance renewable energy projects, and it also has to set standards that guarantee the quality of Egyptian solar energy projects.
By Hisham Salah
