Egypt Unveils $2.8 Billion Plan to Boost Electricity Sector and Renewable Energy

The Egyptian Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation has announced a sweeping plan for the nation’s electricity sector, targeting large-scale investments and significant advances in renewable energy for the 2025/2026 fiscal year. The plan assigns EGP 136.3 billion (about USD 2.8 billion) to drive Egypt’s energy diversification, grid expansion, and regional leadership as a power hub.

Record Investment to Accelerate Energy Goals

The outlined investment for the upcoming fiscal year marks a remarkable increase from EGP 72.6 billion earmarked for 2024/2025, signalling the government’s intent to double down on energy infrastructure. 

Approximately 73 percent of the funding will come from public sources, with specialised holding companies and the public business sector accounting for 45 percent of this share. The remainder will be provided by private sector partners, underscoring a collaborative approach to advancing the sector.

Major Growth for Renewable Energy

Central to the plan is a drive to expand the share of renewable energy in Egypt’s power mix. The target is to raise renewables’ contribution to nearly 20 percent of total electricity supply by 2025/2026, up from approximately 12 percent in 2023/2024. 

The government aims to reach combined wind and solar capacities of 6,470 megawatts, backed by substantial new investments in clean energy infrastructure.

Capacity and Network Expansion

To meet rising demand and support economic growth, Egypt plans to increase nationwide electricity production to around 235 billion kWh in 2025/2026, a 3 percent increase on projections for the current fiscal year. This will involve the addition of 1.2 GW of thermal generation and further capacity additions in renewables.

Key projects featured in the investment plan include relocating and converting electrical facilities interfering with road infrastructure, expanding the Mas’aid and Baghdad 220kV transformer substations in North Sinai, converting overhead transmission lines to underground cables, and finalizing new and expanded substations in 10th of Ramadan, Zahraa Madinat Nasr, and Minya el-Kamh, as well as rehabilitating the Matariya transformer station.

Performance Milestones and Regional Integration

The new strategy sets ambitious performance targets, including increasing access to electricity to 99.8 percent of the population and reducing energy loss in transmission and distribution networks to 16.5 percent from 19.6 percent in 2023/2024. 

Quantitative goals also include the addition of 1,200MW of thermal power; installing nine 500kV transformer substations; and boosting Egypt’s electricity exports and interconnection capacity.

Egypt is keen on strengthening its role as a regional energy hub. Accordingly, the plan calls for the enhancement of regional interconnection networks, raising grid interconnection capacity to 3,900MW by 2025/2026, up sharply from the current 780MW.

The sector’s output is projected to grow from EGP 655.6 billion in 2025/2026 to EGP 984.5 billion by 2028/2029, representing an annual growth rate of 15 to 20 percent.