Strategic Overview of the Egyptian Electricity Industry

Electricity demand in Egypt has been growing steadily over the years underpinned by sustained population growth, continuing urbanisation, and improving socio-economic developments. Yet the pace at which new power supply came on stream has been lagging behind (peak) demand growth. Some relief occurred from 2010 onwards thanks to newly-built power generation capacity, but also considering the slower pace of electricity demand growth encountered in 2011 and 2012. This was a direct consequence of the lower economic development growth caused by the political instability that followed the Arab Spring protests. Egypt also decided to embrace the renewable energy path with the aim to have 20 per cent of its energy mix from renewable sources by 2020.