The London-based EBRD development bank on 12 October announced that it is loaning Egypt €165mn ($174mn) as part of a $2bn investment program to upgrade Egypt’s electricity grid “to help unlock Egypt’s renewable energy potential by tackling one of the main obstacles [grid bottlenecks] impeding the roll-out of more renewables.” “Upgrade of the ageing transmission and distribution network is crucial in allowing Egypt to achieve its long-term strategy of having 42% of the electricity generated on peak load come from renewables by 2030,” the EBRD adds.
Egypt has ambitious plans for tens of GW of renewables, with solar plants typically to be located in Egypt’s far south and wind plants on the Gulf of Suez – both remote locations versus Egypt’s key Nile Delta population centers. Renewables are also slated to power several $bns-worth of green hydrogen and methanol plans at Ain Sukhna at the southern end of the Suez Canal (MEES, 13 October). (CONTINUED - 198 WORDS)