Egypt has begun intensifying efforts in its energy sector as it gears up for hosting the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UNFCCC in Sharm El-Sheikh this year in November.
The north African country began work on three massive green projects with a total value of $1.2 billion back on May 4, Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek el-Molla announced.
Molla explained that the three projects include a $600 million biofuel production plant with a production capacity of 350,000 tons of biofuels from algae oil per year, expected to cut CO2 emissions by up to 1.2 million tons annually.
The second project consists of a biodegradable plastic factory with a production capacity of 75,000 tons, with investments amounting to $600 million and an annual reduction of 45,000 tons of CO2 emissions.
The third project is a $50 million recycling project that would see used plastic converted into 30,000 tons of oil annually to make polyethylene. This project will cut CO2 emissions by 63,000 tons annually.
In his press statements, Molla indicated that the petroleum sector in Egypt has developed policies and strategies to expand green energy projects and leverage the latest CO2 emissions reduction technologies ahead of the conference.
He said that the sector, in cooperation with its foreign partners, has implemented 13 projects to exploit flare gas in petroleum facilities as an alternative to diesel in 10 companies affiliated with the sector.
He noted that 88 projects have been completed to improve energy efficiency and shrink electricity consumption in 31 companies, in addition to installing and operating solar energy cells in 21 companies with a total capacity of 1,350 kilowatts. He indicated that the total amounts of CO2 emissions reduced from those projects amounted to about 1.3 million tons annually.
Egypt had recently inked several agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoU) with several countries, such as Norway and the UAE, to start producing green hydrogen in the Suez Canal economic zone.
If the sun-kissed country continues at this pace, we can expect remarkable achievements and a significant turn-around of its green energy sector by November.
