The New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) has entered into financial settlements with some local and international entities to obtain its dues with some companies. The total amount collected was EGP 620m. Chairperson of the NREA, Mohamed El-Khayat, said that the authority has paid its financial obligations towards the ministry of finance, local and international banks, most notably the National Investment Bank, the National Bank of Egypt, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). He added that the total commitments paid by the NREA during the current fiscal year (FY) 2018/19 amounted to EGP 1.8bn. Furthermore, he said that NREA revenues increased to EGP 1.82bn by the end of the FY 2018/2019, an increase of 90% over last year. He attributed the high revenues to the authority's strategy to improve financial returns by raising productivity levels, and developing a plan for repair and operation of the stalled turbines, as well as maintenance programmes to repair some spare parts and gear boxes. He added that the complex power of renewable energy rose to 1.235GW by the end of the FY 2018/19 compared to an installed capacity of 890MW at the end of 2016, an increase of 38%. The electric power produced by the NREA's renewable energy plants increased to about 3.755bn kWh during the FY 2018/19 compared to about 2.82bn kWh in 2017/18 with an increase of 33%. El-Khayat explained that the NREA, in cooperation with the Egyptian-German Joint Committee of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (JCEE) trained more than 200 workers on the installation of solar cell systems and university students with full grants, in order to develop their skills in the installation of small and medium solar systems. The government approved a number of measures to encourage the participation of the private sector in new and renewable energy projects, where Egypt is clearly wealthy, which includes mainly wind and solar energy.
