Shaker: 600 Million Africans Lack Access to Electricity

Mohamed Shaker, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy said on Tuesday that the African continent faces great challenges in terms of obtaining clean energy, where almost half of Africans or 600 million citizens do not have access to electricity.

This came during the minister's speech at the virtual opening of the second African Union Specialized Technical Committee on Transport, Intercontinental and Interregional Infrastructures, Energy and Tourism (STC-TTIIET).

The minister indicated that the energy sector in Africa is currently suffering from the impact of the pandemic and the severe global economic recession, especially with the emergence of  second wave.

Shaker added that there are measures that can be taken to revive the economy and increase the investments required to support the AU's Agenda 2063, explaining that this crisis provided a new beginning for the development of digital infrastructure.

The minister explained that Africa possesses huge potential in the energy sector, especially renewable ones and fossil fuels, as Africa is the world's largest host of clean energy resources.

The minister referred to the challenges that the Egyptian electricity sector faced over the past five years and the transformation from a deficit that reached about 20% to a reserve that meets all current and future needs after adding more than 28 gigawatts of electricity production.

"New policies were put in place to encourage participation of the private sector, as well as developing the efficiency of transmission and distribution networks, switching to smart grids, and improving energy efficiency to benefit from natural resources in Egypt, especially renewable ones," Shaker said.

[caption id="attachment_180859" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Minister of electric during his participation in the virtual session[/caption]

He added that Egypt provides incentives to encourage private sector participation in energy sector projects, as 32 investors participated in the implementation of the Benban Solar Energy Complex project, located in Aswan Governorate, the largest in the Middle East and Africa region, which has a total capacity of 1465 megawatts, winning the best worldwide project award by the World Bank.

The minister pointed out that Egypt holds the presidency of (STC-TTIIET) since April 2019, adding that many important events have been organized such as PIDA Week in November 2019 and (STC-TTIIET) May 2020, and coordination is taking place with the AU Commission in particular to complete the infrastructure and energy to implement the activities of the work plans.

In 2016, the Supreme Council of Energy approved the "Integrated Sustainable Energy Strategy for 2035", which will help achieve the required energy balance in Egypt to 42% of renewable energy usage by 2035, in line with the Egyptian sustainable development strategy "Egypt Vision 2030" and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It is noteworthy that Egypt has held the presidency of (STC-TTIIET) since April 2019, and since then, several events have been organized such as PIDA Week in November 2019 and (STC-TTIIET) in May 2020, and coordination is taking place with the AU Commission, especially the Infrastructure and Energy Completion Commission to implement the action plans activities.

Egypt has participated in all regional electrical interconnection projects, as well as the Continental Transport Master Plan, which was developed by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD).

The country has also participated in the Energy Partnership between Africa and the European Union (AEEP), and the Renewable Energy Initiative in Africa (AREI) as a member, in addition to the East African Energy Community (EAPP) and the Africa Infrastructure Development Program (PIDA).