Home → News → Renewable Energy → Liberalizing the exchange rate costs Egypt an additional 700 million pounds to purchase renewable energy every month
The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity’s purchase bill for renewable energy from investors increased by about 700 million pounds per month to reach 2 billion pounds, especially after the liberalization of the exchange rate at the beginning of last March. The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity purchases energy from wind and solar energy projects, and purchases are made in hard currency from investors who have projects in the country.
On March 6, 2024, the Central Bank of Egypt announced raising interest rates by 600 basis points in a surprise meeting, and in light of this, it allowed the local currency to decline against the dollar to reach about 47 pounds to the dollar, compared to 30.9 pounds before the exchange rate was liberalized.
The value of the Ministry’s purchases of electricity produced from wind energy projects alone reached 10 million dollars per month, which is equivalent to about 310 million pounds before the liberalization of the exchange rate, and jumped to 480 million pounds after the price was liberalized in banks, and includes wind stations owned by investors and the New and Renewable Energy Authority.
The Egyptian company is committed to purchasing all the energy from two wind power stations implemented by investors in a build-operate-transfer system, estimated at about 250 megawatts, and it was already operated during the first quarter of 2022. The station is considered the property of the “Lekela Power” company, which was acquired by the “Infinity Power” company during the year 2023.
The second station is owned by the consortium "Orascom Coaxon", "Toyota" of Japan, and "ENGIE" of France. Its production capacity is about 250 megawatts, and it was operated during the last quarter of 2019, in addition to the wind stations affiliated with the New and Renewable Energy Authority in Jebel El-Zeit and Zaafarana.
The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company is responsible for purchasing the produced energy in addition to transmitting that energy to the national electricity grid, then it goes to the electricity distribution companies that are owned by the Egyptian government, and the Egyptian government works to sell it to citizens.