Spain planning solar energy investments in Egypt soon – minister

Spain is planning to pump new investments into Egypt to produce solar cells in the coming period, Egyptian Minister of Trade Tarek Qabil announced Monday.

Qabil made his remarks at the Egypt-Spain Multilateral Partnership Meeting held in Cairo on Monday following his meeting with a high-profile delegation of Spanish firms currently visiting the North African country to study investment opportunities.

Volume of trade between Egypt and Spain had risen by 40 percent in 2016 amidst plans to boost intra-trade between the two countries this year, the Egyptian minister added.

Egypt announced in 2014 ambitious plans to develop renewable energy, originally targeting 4.3 gigawatts of wind and solar projects to be installed over three years.

Facing growing energy demands and pressure on fuel supplies for conventional energy generation, Egypt is focusing on renewable energy as a viable and effective source to add to the gas-dominated energy mix. Egypt’s New and Renewable Energy Authority had aimed to meet 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, but has pushed that back to 2022.

Renewable energy is increasingly serving as an innovative solution for Middle East and North Africa countries, especially Egypt, to rebuild, reconstruct, and drive diversified economic growth.