Press Release 26 June 2008

Inauguration of
The Regional Center of Excellence for
Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency hosted in Cairo

The idea for establishing Regional Center of Excellence for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency to be hosted in Egypt was initiated by the World Energy Council (WEC) national committees of Germany & Egypt in 2003. The idea was further developed by the Governments of the two countries and the discussions were joined later by the Danish Government and the EU Commission.

On June 25th 2008, the Regional Center of Excellence for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) hosted in Cairo, has been inaugurated by H.E. Dr. Hassan Younes, The Egyptian Minister of Electricity & Energy together with their excellencies the Minister of Environmental Affairs, and the Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research, as well as the Ambassadors of Germany, Denmark and EU to Egypt.  The ceremony was attended by distinguished experts from Egypt, the Arab region and EU. The WEC was represented by Dr. Emad Elsharkawi, the Chairman of the Egyptian National Committee of the WEC.

The representatives of the participating Governments from Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lybia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Yemen  as well as the partners from EU, Germany and Denmark have all worked together to establish such center.

A declaration of intentions has been signed, revealing the keenness of the countries to extend cooperation networks among the countries of the region on one hand and between the region as a whole and the European countries on the other hand.

The establishment of this center is a proof of the strong willingness of the participating countries to cooperate together in promoting renewable energy (RE) utilization and following energy efficiency (EE) measures for the interest of their peoples.

Within the context of the international concerns of the issues of energy supplies, climate change and environment protection, such center is anticipated to enhance the exploitation of the abundant RE resources in the region, interalia a think tank and coordination platform in the three interrelated core areas of (i) RE&EE policies (ii) Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP) for RE&EE and (iii) RE&EE research & development technology policies and programs.

The Ministry of Electricity & Energy as representing Egypt, is hosting the Center of Excellence and is participating in setting up the action plan for the center. A fund of 10 million Euros; from Germany (€ 6 mio.), Denmark (€ 2 mio.), Egypt (€ 2 mio. and in-kind contribution equivalent to about € 2 mio.) and EU (a technical assistance equivalent to about € 7 mio.) is secured to carry out the activities for the first 5 years, afterwards, the center aims to be a financially self sustained body. The center will be operated by core staff of experts from the region on a full autonomous basis.

The countries have already prioritized the activities to be immediately started with, including: Economic evaluation of decentralized small-scale and grid-connected large-scale RE systems in comparison with conventional (fossil) electricity generation, standardization of regulation for EE and their applications, particularly energy efficiency in the home appliances & energy conservation in the buildings, opportunities of technology transfer and local manufacturing of RE&EE components identification of potentially promising clusters and resource areas for manufacturing, with a focus on wind turbine components, benchmarking of solar water heater promotion programs in the region against programs in Spain, and Greece and comparative analysis of public private partnerships for RE&EE applied in the region.

It is envisaged that center of excellence will play a remarkable role in transferring RE technologies, developing the national capacity and acting as an information clearing house in the relevant fields. Moreover, it will bundle between the specific needs raised by any country with the required policies and the related researches and development in order to level the ground for fulfilling such needs on viable and sustainable bases. 

WEC Media contact:
Stephanie Flinth: flinth@worldenergy.org                                                Tel: +44 (0) 20 7734 5996