Egypt is planning for coal-fired power generation to account for 15 per cent of installed capacity by 2030, making it the second largest single technology of fuel for power generation after gas and natural fuel oil plants.

Mohamed Salah el-Sobki, executive chairman, New & Renewable Energy Authority (Nrea), speaking at the Egypt Energy Investment Summit in Cairo on 17 February, said that coal-fired power facilities are planned to provide 15 per cent of the installed capacity by 2030.

Currently, there is no coal-fired power plants in Egypt, with the government only approving the use of the fuel in 2014. However, according to El-Sobki, said that coal was now planned to contribute 15 per cent of total generation capacity by 2030. If the targets for diversifying Egypt’s energy resources are met, coal would become the second largest single fuel for power in Egypt.

El-Sobki revealed that the planned installed capacity for power generation in Egypt by 2030 is: 

• · Natural gas and dual fuel oil: 49 per cent
• · Coal: 15 per cent
• · Wind: 10 per cent
• · PV (photovoltaic) solar: 10 per cent
• · CSP (Concentrating solar power): 6 per cent
• · Nuclear: 4 per cent
• · Hydro: 3 per cent
• · Simple cycle:3 per cent

If the proposed targets are achieved, it would represent a significant depletion in the use of natural gas and dual fuel oil for power generation, with gas and oil currently contributing 70 per cent of fuel for power generation in Egypt.

When amalgamated, renewable energy is planned to contribute 29 per cent of Egypt’s power production by 2030. The largest proportion of this is planned to come from wind, 10 per cent, with PV and CSP solar contributing 10 and 6 per cent respectively. Hydo-power is planned to contribute 3 per cent of the total power generation capacity.

Following the approval of coal for power generation in 2014, in March 2015 agreements were signed for about 19GW of coal-fired projects at the Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh. At the event, the electricity ministry outlined plans to award contracts for 12.5GW of coal-fired power plants by 2022.

Nuclear power is planned to represent 4 per cent of the total power generation capacity in Egypt by 2030. In late 2015, Egypt signed a contract with Russia’s Rosatom to build the country’s first nuclear power facility, a 4.8GW atomic energy facility at El-Dabaa.