The government of Egypt is in the process of finalizing regulations about the production and sale of electricity from new private renewable power projects directly to consumers by September 2019.

Egypt’s ministry of electricity has set up a committee to prepare the standards, regulations, and rules governing the production of electricity from solar and wind stations and selling them to consumers through independent power producer (IPP) with payment of electricity network usage fees. Through this, the consumers will have free access to electricity from any licensed company producing and selling energy.

The committee would consist of officials from the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company, the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA), the New and Renewable Energy Authority, experts in the field of electricity and energy, representatives from the private sector like KarmSolar, according to a press release on the development.

A significant point in the new rules is that no company would be allowed to monopolize the production or sale of electricity and direct tariff negotiation with consumers. The rules additionally include obtaining licenses to engage in the production and sale of electricity by the ERA, with the licenses being limited in duration and obtained by the private sector annually. According to the country’s Electricity Law, each participant has the freedom to choose their electricity supplier, the release added.

The new laws are set to open the market to the private sector, encouraging healthy competition.

Besides conventional power, Mercom recently wrote that Egypt is expected to achieve 20% renewable capacity in its energy mix by 2022, with the world’s largest solar park of 1.6 GW set to become operational in Benban by 2019.

According to the Global Wind Report 2018, Egypt installed 380 MW of wind capacity in the past year.

Mercom recently reported about the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company announcing the financial bids for the construction of a 200 MW solar power plant at Kom Ombo.

Soumik is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Prior to joining Mercom, Soumik was a correspondent for UNI, New Delhi covering the Northeast region for seven years. He has also worked as an Asia Correspondent for Washington DC-based Hundred Reporters. He has contributed as a freelancer to several national and international digital publications with a focus on data-based investigative stories on environmental corruption, hydro power projects, energy transition and the circular economy. Soumik is an Economics graduate from Scottish Church College, Calcutta University.