Successful joint conference with WEC Egypt on Energy Efficiency and Renewables

Observatoire Méditerranéen de l’Energie (OME) and Egyptian National Committee of the World Energy Council (ENC-WEC) in collaboration with the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) organized a conference on: “Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy: moving towards a sustainable Energy future in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Region,” under the auspices of H.E. Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy of Egypt.

The conference was organized in Cairo on February 27th and attracted more than 200 participants, coming from both the public and private sector; mainly ministries, national agencies, regional organizations, regulators, and private companies involved in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The conference was opened by key note speakers; Dr. Moustafa Swidan, ENC-WEC Chairman; Mr. Bruno Lescoeur, OME Chairman; and H.E. Dr. Mohamed Shaker, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy.

In addition to the opening session with keynote speakers who thanked and welcomed the speakers and participants while highlighting the important role of renewable energy and energy efficiency in national energy systems, the conference was structured in 4 thematic sessions. The first session gave a detailed overview of the recent developments and perspectives of sustainable energy technologies in Egypt with emphasis on the energy strategy and scenarios to year 2035, support schemes, renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and initiatives, including distributed generation using renewable energy sources and their use also in desalination purposes. The second session shed light on the public and private sectors’ promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency. This session presented some return on experience and lessons learned on renewable energy developments and challenges in Tunisia, ENGIE’s experience in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency and Eni’s approach and initiatives in Renewable Energy in North Africa. The third session was an occasion to learn from some return on experience in Morocco on renewable energy integration, and also the role of natural gas in the energy mix as an important source for meeting both energy and climate goals towards a sustainable energy future. During the fourth session panelists tried to answer questions related to the way forward for a wide scale development and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, with some concrete examples and recommendations for the future.

Vivid discussions followed each presentation. Positive feedback from the organizing partners and participants was received encouraging and inviting OME for further event gatherings to exchange on energy issues in the Mediterranean.

The final programme and presentations are available for download. The synthesis of the Conference and main conclusions will be published at the GEM issue No. 16 in June 2017.