President Abdel Fattah El Sisi received Wednesday Raymond Carlsen, CEO of the Norwegian “Scatec” company for new and renewable energy generation, and discussed upgrading cooperation ties, according to Presidency Spokesperson Bassam Rady.
The meeting was held in the presence of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker, CEO of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt Ayman Soliman, the Norwegian Ambassador to Cairo Hilde Klemetsdal, and a number of executive officers in Scatec.
Rady stated that Sisi discussed cooperation potential with “Scatec” on the localization of water desalination technology and new and renewable energy projects.
This cooperation is part of the national strategy for the generation of clean energy, which is implemented in cooperation with long-standing international expertise in this field.
The aim is to make use of the many renewable energy resources that Egypt possesses, especially wind and solar energy. These efforts are made in accordance with the State’s plan to persify energy resources and benefit from its natural wealth.
Sisi underlined Egypt’s interest in cooperating with Norway, building upon its vast experience in the field of new and renewable energy.
President Sisi stressed that any future cooperation projects between the two sides should include technical, capacity-building training centers in the fields of operation and maintenance. It is also important that such projects include research and development centers in cooperation with various institutes and research centers in Egypt, the President highlighted.
On his part, Carlsen expressed his honor to meet the President, highlighting the Norwegian company’s great interest in discussing opportunities for cooperation with Egypt in light of the company's activities and global expertise.
This cooperation is underpinned by Egypt’s strong reputation at the regional level in the field of environmental preservation and new and renewable energy sources development, which culminated in Egypt hosting the 27th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties next year.
The Egyptian Government launched a solar Feed-in-Tariff program in 2015 with a goal of generating 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2022. With a planned capacity of 1.8 GW and covering 36 km², the Benban site near Aswan was in 2019 the world’s largest one-site solar project. Scatec entered the market in 2015 and with 390 MW in operation, the company is the largest solar developer in Egypt.
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