Power outages due to gas and fuel shortages mean a reducing reliance on thermal power from 91 to 57 per cent capacity within 8 years
According to the Electricity Report 2016, produced for Electricx, Egypt is planning to reduce its reliance on thermal power mixes, in favour of a more diverse mixture of coal, wind and solar, hydro and thermal.
The biggest sectors to grow from these changes are the coal, wind and solar sectors. Thermal, which as of 2014, generated around 91 per cent of the electricity for Egypt will be generating 57 per cent by 2022.
The report, produced by Mena research Partners (MRP), in partnership with Egytec and Informa, have stated that it is an 'objective to reduce the excessive reliance on thermal power, which is leading to power outage due to natural gas and fuel shortages.'
The Supreme Energy Council has also taken the decision to adopt a National Energy Strategy, which should transform the efficiency of the energy sector in Egypt. The thermal sector has a large amount of room for growth, as some of the infrastructure is more than 20 years old.
Whilst the drop in capacity from the thermal power sector may be bad news for suppliers and producers, the minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy is targeting to supply an additional 54GW of power by 2022. This means taking overall capacity in Egypt from 34GW, as the peak load is expected to rise to 54GW by 2027. Therefore, whilst the diversification of the energy sector may seem like bad news for the thermal sector, this potential growth still could offer huge opportunities for many energy providers.
